It's Play Time
by LoZeldafreak
Summary: No one thinks Zelda is capable of anything but screaming for help in a tower. But by competing in the Super Smash Bros fighting tournament maybe she can prove what she is made of, if she survives that is! I will recognize all reviewers at the end.
1. Just Leave Me Alone!

She had no idea so many people, and animals, would be here. Did that many people want to win the grand Super Smash Brother's Melee tournament? How could one princess defeat all those people? Well, if she wanted to prove what she was made of, she would have to try.

Zelda's stomach was turning around and she felt like throwing up. The contest hadn't even started and she was already nervous. She turned her head to look around the room, her blonde hair dancing around as she did. The room was large and echo-y, with a tall ceiling and brick walls. Several booths stood on the far side of the room where people were lining up to sign in for the tournament.

The people in line to sign up were completely different from one another. In front was yellow rat wearing a party hat who was signing in by holding the pen in his mouth instead of in his hand. Next to him was a strange version of a purple cat, who wasn't even holding the pen, but simply making it write using his physic powers. People of all sizes followed in line, and Zelda gasped when she saw who was third from last. It was Gannandorf, the most evil person alive. Not only that, but he had capturing her for the past several years. "He is huge", she thought. "I hope he doesn't get to use that sword of his. It's like just as tall as me!"

Zelda adjusted her pink dress and gold jewelry inside the sign-up room. Pink is the _perfect _color for fighting, she thought sarcastically. She was interrupted by someone tapping on her back. She swirled around to see her boyfriend, Link, standing behind her. He too was entering the tournament. In his words, he was the 'greatest fighter the world would ever see'. Whatever.

"See that guy over there in the helmet? I think his name is Captain Falcon. How tall do you think he is? About 6'3". And you? You're like 5'6. Do you see what I am getting at?"

"Just shut up, Link. Go capture your faeries or play your little wind thingy. I need to meditate before the event starts." She walked over to a bench, Link still trying to persuade her to quite, and sat down and closed her eyes.

"I am just saying, you can still quite now, while you are still conscious. Zelda, I think there is a reason that _I_ always save _you_ from Gannandorf."

Zelda opened one eye. "Hey Link; I think there is something in your hair. And your bangs seem a little messy."

Link gasped and ran off to find someone with a comb. Zelda closed her eyes again and resumed her meditation with a smirk. After about five minutes, Zelda opened her eyes again, this time interrupted by the sound of someone shouting. She looked up to see a blue bird man and a green dinosaur thing that she knew was Yoshi fighting each other in the middle of the room. Yoshi had little arms, but could kick like a kangaroo. The bird man was trying to punch him, but Yoshi was too quick and continued to dodge his blows. A fox man wearing tight pants ran to the blue bird and tried to pull him away, while a fat man in overalls was tugging at Yoshi.

"That's enough Falco! Save your fighting for the real battle," the fox shouted as he tried his best to keep Falco back.

"You too, Yoshi! Forget what he said," the fat man told his dinosaur friend.

Zelda joined the crowd and asked what had happened. Apparently, Flaco had said something about Yoshi, but he had over heard. Yoshi had said something back that outraged the blue bird, and he began attacking him.

The two were back at it again, and their friend's attempts to separate them proved futile. Zelda sighed, closed her eyes, and whispered something so fast that no one could understand what it was. Falco and Yoshi were pushed to the opposite sides of the room and there was a loud slam as they hit the walls. The crowd turned to see Zelda walk out of the room to find quieter place for meditation.

I guess it's not much, but I will do more! I need help though- I can't decide whether to make it all about Zelda or about all the people. Please review and tell me what to do!


	2. Princesses Unite!

Here is chapter 2. Hope you like it!

Zelda suddenly sat up in her bed, panting heavily. It was just a dream she told herself, just a dream. She looked around herself just to make sure she was still in her hotel room that she was sharing with Link, who was still deep in sleep in the bed next to her. She couldn't remember exactly what her dream, or nightmare as it seemed, was about. She just remembered fighting, and losing. Badly. She saw the faces of the crowd booing and taunting her in her mind.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of Link's voice. "I would love it if you combed my hair. An autograph? Oh sure. Settle down, ladies, there is enough for all of you. I know my hair is gorgeous, you don't have to tell me." Zelda rolled her eyes. Well, there is always one way to shut up a sleeping Link. Zelda leaned over to her bed-side table and turned on her light. She opened the drawer and took out her all-to-handy roll of all purpose duct tape. She then ripped off a piece and placed it over Link's mouth. He continued to sleep, but now his words were muffled and much quieter. Zelda sighed contentedly.

But her quiet moment was soon interrupted by someone shouting outside her window. Zelda looked outside her window and saw a girl in pink running down the street. "Stop! Come back! I need my crown!" she was shouting. Zelda wanted to come down and help her, but that would mean going downstairs to the lobby, and by that time she would be gone. She stuck her head out the window and noticed the drain pipe that went all the way to the ground.

If there is one thing that Zelda has learned from old romance sitcoms, it's that the best way to get downstairs at three a.m. without waking your parents up is to shimmy down the drain pipe. Zelda had never done this because #1 she lived in a castle and her room was like five stories up and #2 because even if she did make it down with out breaking her legs, the guards, video cameras, and guard dogs would make sure that she wouldn't get away without getting noticed. But right now, she was on the second floor and there where no guards in sight; a perfect opportunity to try this out. She reached over and grabbed the drain pipe and held on to it as she swung one leg out the window, knocking down the flower pots on the window sill which fell to the ground landing on an unfortunate cat. She flinched as the cat cried out in surprise. She then wrapped her leg around the pipe as she pulled the rest of herself out the window and into the cold night air. Hanging on for dear life, she slowly began to climb down until she was safely on the ground and sighed in relief.

Zelda was still in her pajamas and slippers, but she paid no attention as she ran after the girl that had been shouting. The girl had stopped to catch her breathe and Zelda easily caught up with her. "What is wrong?" she asked.

"He stole my crown! I woke up and it was gone! I saw him get in a car and drive away with it."

"Calm down. And stop shouting. Most people are trying to sleep at this time in the night."

"I'm sorry, but my crown means a me. It is handed down from each previous Mushroom Princess. And it brings me good luck. If I don't have it, I can barely fight at all. And my battle is tomorrow!"

"So you're entering the Super Smash bros Melee?" Zelda asked.

The girl sighed. "I know what you are thinking. How can a princess be entering and expect to win? How on earth could she possibly defeat anyone?" she said.

"No, it wasn't. I know exactly how you feel. I am princess to, and I also plan on competing. My name is Zelda, by the way."

"Peach. Princess Peach," she told her cheerfully as she held out a manicu for Zelda to shake. "I am little surprised to hear that," Princess Peach said as the started to walk down the street. "After all, it is not every day that I meet a Princess that also knows how to defend herself." She gave Zelda a smile and she gave Peach one in return.

"Now, what about that man? The one that stole your crown, I mean. We should keep an eye out for him, so we can find him and show him what happens when you mess with a princess."

_I would greatly enjoy it if you would R&R ASAP. Chapter numba three is comin' right up._


	3. Pppprinces Peach!

The morning Link awoke with a piece of duct tape on his mouth. In one quick pull, he ripped it off. "Oooowww!" He ran into the bathroom in the hotel room and looked in his mirror. There was a big red mark around his mouth. Now he screamed even louder. Quickly he grabbed Zelda's cosmetic bag and began rummaging through it. He dug through lipstick, a toothbrush, some jewelry and some feminine hygiene products. Finally he got to the bottom and found some concealor. He sighed in relief.

Zelda had finally awoken and sat up in bed. She looked at the bed next to her, but Link was gone (not quite a bad thing). Suddenly she heard the sound of plastic hitting the floor coming from the bathroom. She got out of bed, opened the door, and looked in to see her boyfriend putting on concealor, with her cosmetics all over the floor.

Zelda slowly backed out of the room saying "I'll just leave you to what you were doing. I know how I guy needs to look his best. By the way, I have some Covergirl lip gloss that would work great on you." She chuckled and closed the door.

Zelda hurried to get dressed and ready for the event, as she was already almost late. Luckily, she wasn't competing today, but her new friend, Princess Peach, would be and she didn't want to miss her fight. Zelda ran to the lobby forgetting about Link for the moment, and told the valet to get her car. Well, Link's car.

She got in and raced to the coliseum where the events were being held. Inside the main hall was an elaborate double door that led into the arena. A gigantic portrait hung of the founders of the tournament, the Nintendo brothers. On the plaque below the painting was their show name, the Super Smash Bros. Zelda was about to run through the doors when she was stopped by someone's voice.

"You can't go in without a ticket, mam," said a teenager that was working as a ticket collector. He had red hair that covered his eyes and some serious acne. Clipped to his 'I heart the Mushroom Princess' t-shirt was a name tag that said SSB employee Rick. "You need a ticket to enter, mam," he said in a dull voice.

"Listen, junior, I told my friend I would be here and I am late as it is," Zelda replied in an annoyed voice.

"No entry without a ticket, mam." His voice still had the same bored tone. Now Zelda was getting really ticked off.

"Just quit it with the mam's already! You can just shove that stupid ticket up your-"

"Sorry, but unless you are a VIP I can't let you in without a ticket…mam." Zelda looked down at his shirt again and suddenly had a devious look on her face.

"You know who my friend is?"

"No, mam."

"Well she just so happens to be Princess Peach. And if I don't meet her now, I'll have to tell her that it was all because of a certain ticket collector named," she paused to look at his name tag. "Rick."

Rick's eyes lit up. "P-p-princess Peach! Oh boy, go right ahead, mam. And tell her that I let you in just for her and that if she's wondering where all her retainers are, well, um…" his voice trailed off. Zelda gave him a disgusted look. She turned to enter the door, but before she did she added, "By the way Rick, I think I might also mention to her how it annoyed me so when ever you said mam."

His eyes went from lost in thought (most likely about Princess Peach) to nervousness. "I'll stop! Just don't tell her that it annoyed you, um…miss."


	4. Da Rules

Zelda entered a room that looked like a foot-ball stadium, but instead of a field, there was a jungle growing in the middle of the room. The seats were beginning to fill with people. She found an empty seat that was located near a door, most likely and exit. Above the stadium, a large screen displayed the names of the next fighters- Ness vs. Princess Peach. Feeling relieved that she wasn't late, Zelda relaxed in her seat.

"Hey!" Zelda turned her head to see who had said that. "Hey, you! Princess!"

Zelda turned her head and spotted who had been calling her. A man with a curled moustache and purple suit was sticking his head out of the door she had mistaken for an exit. "Me?" Zelda asked as she pointed to herself.

"You're Princess Zelda, right?"

"Well, yes. But-"

"_Finally_. Come with me. And hurry, the others are all waiting for you and Link."

The man pulled a confused Zelda through the door. Zelda blinked in disbelief. What she had thought led outside, was actually a door leading to a room that looked as though it had been in a magazine. The room was lighted by oddly shaped lights, and circular windows. Red carpet that was styled with white curves covered the floor. There were two doors that led into the male and female changing rooms/bathrooms. Surrounded by red leather chairs was a large, flat, screen. In front of the screen stood a man, whom on closer observation Zelda recognized as one of the Nintendo bros. Now that she thought about it, the man that had beckoned her resembled the other sibling.

"Now then," said the man in front of the TV, "I shall now explain how this competition will work."

"Excuse me, but Link is still missing," his brother interrupted. He turned to Zelda. "Do you know if he will be here soon?"

"Err, I don't know." Then Zelda remembered it was Link they were talking about. "Actually, I do know. When I left, he hadn't taken a shower yet, and after that he needs to pluck his eyebrows and dry his hair. Then he picks out an outfit, which takes like fifteen minutes even though they are all just slight variations of that green dress he wears. Oh yeah, he also has to choose an amulet that 'matches his mood'. Finally, he must go look in his full length mirror one last time to practice his smile and make sure his appearance is absolutely perfect. Usually, there is something wrong and he has to fix it. Plus I took his car so he will probably have to walk. So no, he won't be here for a while."

"Well, we will just have to start without him. Now, we have already decided who will fight on what day, and you will be notified a day before your battle. On the day you compete, we would like you to get here promptly at 8: 30 at the latest. Pass that on to Link, Zelda. We shall eventually start four person battles, but the final battle will be one on one."

The man standing in front of the TV took over. "You are probably wondering how each battle will work. You have ten minutes to knock out your opponent as many times as possible, without getting yourself knocked out. The times you fall will be subtracted from your knock outs, or KO's. The winner of the match is the contestant with the highest total."

"Excuse me," Princess Peach said. "You said that we try to knock out our opponent as many times as possible. But if we knock them out once, how are we supposed to do it again with them already unconscious?"

"With this." The man in front of the TV held up a white oval shaped pill that was about the size of a dime. "Some call it magic; I call it a scientific break-through. What it is is a pill that once swallowed, will re-energize you every KO. Once you faint, you will awake in a few seconds up and as well as if you had just been picking flowers in a meadow."

The looks of the contestants were both confused and amazed. "Now let's not keep our audience waiting any longer. Princess Peach, Ness, get ready to fight!"


	5. Match No 1

The crowd erupted with applause as a nervous Princess stepped quickly across a jungle-like arena. With all the noise, Zelda didn't know if her new friend would notice her wishing her good-luck, but Princess Peach turned her head and gave her a slight smile. Most of the people thought that the reason that Peach was so nervous, was because she was weak, but Zelda knew that she was simply missing something very important to her.

While Peach stretched, her opponent entered. He was a short boy with a base-ball cap and bat. He looked very determined, and his brow was furrowed in concentration. Suddenly, a loud voice began to speak. "Welcome to the Super Smash Bros. Melee!" If possible, the crowd grew louder than before. "In out first match of the day, we have the lovely Princess Peach versus the um…short, Ness!"

"Are the smashers ready?" The two contestants nodded and posed for battle. "Then let's fight!" A loud fog-horn type noise filled the arena. "Uh, that means go," the announcer told everyone.

The battle was on and the crowd became completely silent, lost in the fight. Ness threw his bat, which hit Peach on the side of her head. She rubbed the spot where it had hit. "That was stupid," she stated abruptly. She picked up the bat and began to hit Ness in the head with it.

"Ouch! Hey- Uh! Cut that out!"

The boy was on the ground in fetal position, with Peach standing over him and continuing to show him no mercy.

At one point or another, Ness's hat fell off. Princess Peach's eyes widened at what she saw drop out and on to the ground. "My crown! I can't believe it!" she shouted. The audience gasped simultaneously as she bent down to pick it up and place it gracefully on her head. She then turned her head to glance at Ness, who was now beginning to whimper.

Ness looked up at the Princess's face. Her eyes were narrowed and he was sure he could see flames in them. She took a step closer to him and bent down so here face was nearly touching his and he could smell her 'budding rose' perfume. She opened her mouth and spoke very slowly. "You just made my list…"

INAPPROPIATE CONTENT DELETED

"Well, I have to admit, that is the first time I have seen a turnip used as a lethal weapon," the announcer said hesitantly, the crowd still in shock. Most were still wincing as they recalled what happens when you make Peach angry. "Time is up, so let's have a look at the score."

Princess Peach:

KO's- 37

Falls- 0

Total- 37

Ness:

KO's- 0

Falls- 37

Total- -37

"Princess Peach is the winner!" The Princess forgot about being mad, and began jumping up and down excitedly.

"I won!" she squealed. "Hooray! In your face, Ness!" She stuck her tongue out at Ness, who was being carried away in a stretcher.

"Where's the turnip? Where's there turnip! So…many…turnips. Aaaaaaaah!" he cried looking dazed.

She continued her victory chant. "And in your face too, Mario! You owe me fifty bucks!" She threw her head back and laughed triumphantly.

Zelda called to Princess Peach from her seat in the audience. "Meet you in the smasher's lounge."

When the two Princesses spotted each other in the immense crowd of people in the smasher's lounge, they hurriedly pushed through the mass to meet up with one another. "You were amazing!" Zelda cried as the two Princesses embraced. "I just hope that I do as well as you in my battle."

"You don't mean that," Peach replied modestly.

"But I do! 37 knockouts! That is incredible!" Zelda's astounded expression told that she wasn't lying.

As the crowd began to die down in the room, the two of them made their way to the large flat-screened TV to watch a horrifying replay of the battle. They were deep in conversation when Zelda was startled by something bump into her. She immediately turned her head and looked behind her.

She saw brown hair, golden armor, and blue eyes that met her own. Her mouth opened to say something, but she was at a lost for words.

Finally, after what seemed an eternity, she spoke. "Is that Roy from high-school?"

"Zelda? Is that you?"

"Wow, Roy, it's been a while hasn't it?" Zelda's mind drifted away to her senior year of high school. She remembered the dork that sat behind her in biology that would write her name all over his notebook. He would always slouch and wear a hooded sweat shirt to try and cover-up his acne. His locker was right next to her's and he would always stare at her when she stopped by there. She would try not to notice, just smile at him, look away, and get her books as fast as possible. Luckily, she had a boyfriend, so he couldn't ask her out. (She wouldn't know how to say no without leaving him with several more crushed spirits).

But now she looked at him, his hair tastefully done, his teeth so brightly whitened. There wasn't a trace of acne at all on his face and stood with good posture. But it was indeed the same Roy; she recognized his face and his eyes. And his voice was similar, but more matured.

"So, are you entering the melee?" Roy asked Zelda, bringing her back to reality.

"Oh, um, yes," she answered as his words processed through her brain. "Yes, of course. I assume the same of you, Roy."

"Yep. And so is my friend, Marth." A rather thin man of about Roy's age stepped forward and greeted the two Princesses. His hair was blue and he looked rather serious and shy compared to Roy.

"Well, it was nice seeing you, Roy. Maybe I will see you later." Princess Peach and Zelda turned and left, leaving the two men alone.

"Who was she?" Marth asked Roy lowering his voice.

"Oh, just some girl that was in my class in high school." He paused. "She had a major crush on me."


	6. Tomorrow I Will Perish

"Talking to someone?"

Link stood in front of Princess Peach and Zelda with his arms crossed and blocking the only exit.

"I was," Zelda replied casually as she flipped her long blonde hair. "You will never guess who. It was Roy from high school."

Link let out a high pitched laugh. "_Roy_? You mean that loser that used to follow you around and write your name on his journal? _He _is entering? Oh, that is too rich." Link continued to laugh and eventually wiped away tears.

Zelda put her hands on her hips in an annoyed manner. "He was not a loser. Well, he kind of was, but it wasn't his fault." Then she added, "He has changed a lot, you know. You should of seen his smile…it could have bought a dead puppy back to life!" Her eyes became dreamy and distant.

"You should see mine," Link told her. He flashed a white smile at Samus who was walking by only to receive an orange, metal fist in his face. Zelda rushed to the aid of her boyfriend, who was now lying on the ground blinking his eyes, one now black, in surprise.

"Oh, you poor baby," the Princess said in a motherly voice as she picked him up and held him in her arms. She turned to Peach, who was looking at Samus with a combination of fear and surprise. "Peach, I have to go and take care of my boyfriend and his eye."

Zelda carried Link outside to his car with surprisingly little effort. As soon as the elfin, hero saw the black paint on his car, he jumped out of Zelda's arms, ran to it, and began to stroke it lovingly.

"My baby! I thought someone had stolen you! Oh, its okay, daddy's here." He took off his hat and used it to rub the hood of the car. Zelda coughed loudly and Link snapped back to reality, or as close as he could get when he was having a moment with his baby (not referring to Zelda of course). He placed his hat back on his head, slid into the driver's seat, and barely waited for her to get in before he started the engine.

"Oh, I almost forgot." He reached across Zelda and took his sun glasses out of the glove compartment, putting them with great finesse. Zelda just rolled her eyes and looked out the window as the car pulled out of the parking lot and they began the ride back to their hotel.

The two elves stepped out of the car and stretched as they made their way into the lobby of the Hudson Hotel. They were quiet and a bit hungry as it was almost one o'clock. Zelda sighed and was about to call an elevator, when a hotel employee ran towards her calling for her to wait.

The employee, who looked about 17 and was dressed in a red uniform with a hat that was slightly crooked on his head, took a few moments to regain his breathe. When he spoke, he used an important voice. He pulled out a sheet of paper and read off it in a way that suggested that he had practiced this quite a few times before. "There is a message for Princess Zelda from the 'SSB Melee Company.'" He looked up at Zelda. "You are her, right?"

Zelda nodded and the teenager continued. "Your battle is tomorrow and we need you to contact to us as soon as possible, preferably before 8:00 pm tonight. Thank you and good luck tomorrow on your battle." When he finished the letter, he handed Zelda the envelope with the message inside, and ran off eagerly in search of a new job.

Zelda suddenly had a strong case of butterflies in her stomach. She couldn't believe that she would have to fight so soon! She was sure that she _could_ win, and yet what made her nervous was the fact that she wouldn't win, or even hit her opponent at all. Her mind flashed back to her dream she had last night; she was standing in the middle of the arena and the crowd was booing at her because she had done so badly. She shook her head to clear it of the thought, though it was still there in the back of her mind.

"They will probably still let you quit," Link said as he stepped into the elevator. Zelda pretended not to notice and looked away as she entered behind him.

"After all-"

"I am not quitting! I may be a princess, but I can still kick butt."

Link continued to try and persuade her to stop, but every time he opened his mouth, she would cut him off before he could say anything. Finally, Zelda burst.

"I AM ENTERING THE FREAKIN' TOURNAMENT!" she shouted. A long awkward pause followed and the only sound was Zelda panting heavily and the small beeping noise an elevator makes as it moves between floors. He felt very small, almost helpless. His eyes were wide and he nodded nervously. Suddenly, her sudden burst of rage vanished and she straightened her clothes and fixed her hair so one could never tell that she had said a word.

"Um," Link said quietly still in shock, "I suppose it always help to have a can do attitude…"

She knew she should be in bed. She knew that she should be getting as much rest as possible before her battle tomorrow. But somehow, she couldn't get her eyes to stay shut.

Zelda looked up at the full moon pouring in though the window. She was sitting nervously in a wooden chair that was standing by the window so she could look out at the empty street. It was so quiet and peaceful; exactly what she loved about night. No one has any problems. After all, everyone is in their beds sleeping soundly.

Everyone except her, that is. She was still up. And she had huge problems. Zelda began running her fingers through her hair like she always did when she got anxious.

Tomorrow she would die. She knew it. Or at least get beaten to a pulp. Her opponent was named Captain Falcon and he was one of the few people that she did know, at least by reputation. He was a racer, a deadly racer. He was portrayed by the press as the "bad boy" of racing, and the stories involving him often involved explosions, car chases, and swim suit models. She wasn't sure how well he knew how to fight, but she had figured out one thing: he sure knew how to look like it. Zelda recalled seeing him at the sign-on room. He was tall, broad shouldered, and chin had a large dimple in the middle. Underneath his exceedingly tight jump suit that would squeak as he strode about the place eyeing any women between 20 and 27, was large, strong arms that could pound a pathetic Princess straight to the underground in one blow.

Zelda stopped herself. She took a breath and remembered what Peach had told her when she called after finding out who was her opponent. Their conversation played back in her mind.

"This tournament is for human enjoyment, so the whole point is to have fun," the Princess had said in attempts to lift Zelda's spirit. "Just relax and think of it like a game. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. But when it is over, it doesn't really matter."

"Are you going anywhere with this?" she had asked her friend.

"Maybe. The point is, if he does anything that will cause you any lifetime mental or physical damage"-

"Like killing me?"

"Then you can sue the crap out of the Nintendo Brothers," she finished optimistically.

Zelda got up from her chair and slid into her bed thinking over what her friend had told her over the phone. If he kills me, I get a bunch of money. But if I am dead, what am I going to do with it? She sighed. It was time for some mental prep.

"It is just like a game. You can do it Zelda, you are strong. And you're good at games," she told herself. It was working; she actually felt a little more confident about the whole thing. "You are just here to have fun, meet some new friends, and pulverize my opponent." Now she was really feeling good. "I hope Captain Falcon is ready for this game, because tomorrow it's playtime.


	7. A Lot Like Dying

_Gee, I feel like I should say something. Hmm…Uh, I have a mosquito bite and it is bugging the hell out of me. How's that?_

If someone wanted to learn about Captain Falcon, a good clue would be the arena he chose for his first battle. It was large and the ground was a road on which speeding race cars zoomed across and disappeared at the right side of the arena. There were so many cars on this road that it was impossible to touch the ground without being run over by one. Platforms floated above so the fighters would have something to stand on while they fight. But thing that reflected Captain Falcon most was that, like him, the arena was one of the most intimidating things Zelda had seen in her life.

Everything she said last night was forgotten as she stepped through a large door and saw Captain Falcon stretching, his muscles bulging in his suit as though he had gotten a child-size instead. Zelda breathed deeply and tried to be confident but she could not. Her mind could not leave the fact that Captain Falcon would probably kill her.

"Hey baby, you looking pretty good," the flirtatious racer called to Zelda. "If I wasn't supposed to hurt you, I would have to ask you to dinner."

"I already have a boy friend, and he's not a jerk like you. Or as much of one anyways," Zelda retorted. "So quit checking me out."

"Alright baby, if that's the way you want it to go down, it's time to fight- or not."

The seats in the arena were beginning to fill with people and the room was soon as loud and excited as the day before, but the noise died down immediately when the announcer began to speak.

"Our two contestants for today's battle is the attractive Princess Zelda versus the um…sweaty Captain Falcon." Captain Falcon flexed his arm and several fans whistled and hollered in approval. He smirked and adjusted his goggles in a conceited way. He and Link should get together, Zelda thought; it would be fun to see who has a bigger ego.

"Smashers ready?" boomed the announcer.

"Ready," the two fighters said simultaneously.

The loud fog horn-like noise that signaled the start of the match filled the room. The fight had begun.

Zelda stood on a platform that was floating above the stampede of speeding cars not sure of what to do. Should she rush in or wait for him to attack. Should she use magic or fist? Neither seemed capable to her right now. But before she could decide how to attack, her sweaty opponent was leaping towards her for an attack. He threw a large fist towards her head, but the princess ducked, narrowly missing it.

Captain Falcon gave several more punches, but only the final blow struck his challenger in the eye.

"Don't like to hit a girl, doesn't seem fair, but that's the way the game goes" he called out to Zelda who had been thrust backwards onto another platform when she was hit.

"Oh, I don't blame you for not wanting to. Because this is what happens when you do!"

Zelda closed her eyes and suddenly wind was blowing every where. The crowd watched in silence as a burst of blue light shot forward out of her hands and struck Captain Falcon squarely in the chest knocking him down of the plat form landing in front of another speeding race car. He let out a shout and suddenly disappeared in a fountain of light.

All was silent for a brief moment while Zelda and everyone else in the audience wondered what had happened. Both to her relief and dismay, Captain Falcon reappeared unhurt.

"Alright, one point for the pretty girl with big ears. But the fights just started."

He lunged forward, fury in his eyes. Zelda knew that now that he was aware of just what would happen if he underestimated her again striking him alone would be tuff. And not getting hit would be even harder. No thoughts of what to do came to her; any battle techniques she had ever learned were completely forgotten. All she seemed capable of doing was running away and breathing, though that was becoming more difficult now. She took a deep breathe, and jumped as far as she could, which was surprisingly very high, into the air above.

Captain Falcon almost forgot to stop himself as his target suddenly moved. His toes were nearly off the edge of one of the larger 8 ft by 4 ft plat forms when he finally realized that Zelda was now above him and he halted to a stop. Determined to make Zelda pay for knocking him off the edge, he jumped up in the air and grabbed the Princess's skinny ankle. She gasped as she felt his strong hand grasp on to her, and she began to kick downward onto his face. Now very irritated, he brought her ankle, and the scrawny girl that was attached, down hard against the ground with a loud 'thud'.

This did not feel good, but it wasn't enough to knock Zelda down for good. She sprang back up and did a low kick knocking him down onto his back. He got back up and both he and Zelda began to throw blows at each other. Most were blocked or dodged, except for an occasional blow that managed to slip past.

Zelda could tell that Captain Falcon was almost as exhausted as she was and his punches were slowing down. Both contestants could barely make a fist, let alone actually hit their opponent. Finally, Captain Falcon managed to hit Zelda in the eye, and she fell backwards onto her back. She wanted to get up, but she was too drained to do it fast enough. As though making a strong blow re-energized him, Captain Falcon bounded forward ready to beat Zelda senseless.

Zelda saw three things before her world erupted with pain. She saw Captain Falcon hold his fist above his head ready to strike, the crowd yelling out to both her and her opponent, and Roy. Zelda did a double-take. Why should she notice him when she is in the middle of a battle? What made him stand out from everyone else, including Link?

But there was no denying what she saw. Light reflected of his golden armor, and she could faintly see her reflection in it (not a pretty sight). His blue eyes were shining, as always, but they looked pained rather than dreamy. His whole body seemed to give of a gentle glow, but this was probably just her imagination. But the brief moment in which she could tell what was going on passed, and everything became out of focus. At first, she could feel nothing but throbbing pain as this awful man's flaming punches rained down upon her. Then the blows stopped, though the burning sting did not. She could feel her self being picked up and thrown over Captain Falcon's shoulder, but she had no power to stop him. She screamed, but it was as though she was standing in a cloud of fog where no one could hear her. She let out another shriek only to receive another bruise to her already inflamed head.

Though everything around her was blurred and nothing seemed quite clear, Zelda could still here the shouts of the people. It was the ten second countdown; the entire room burst into a chorus of "10…9…8…" This was it- if dropped her off the edge, like she knew he would, they would be tied and the battle would continue into Sudden Death in which each fighter starts out with an extremely high amount of damage and if they take to long to knock each other out, bombs begin to rain down upon them (who's dumb idea was that?). In her case, this could be renamed 'Certain Death'. She had read in a magazine the Captain Falcon never lost a Sudden Death match. _Never._

Zelda could feel her captor swinging her back into his arms and then letting go completely. She was falling but her helpless body seemed to not to react. Captain Falcon stood in triumph over his almost assured victory. His body moved up and down as he took deep exhausted breathes while he, and the entire audience, waited to hear Zelda scream.

Finally, after about a minute of waiting, there was a scream. But the sound did not belong to Zelda, it belonged to Captain Falcon.

Not as much humor as the other chapters, but it sure is action packed, don't you think? What will happen? Who will win? Guess you will just have to wait and find out!


	8. The Elf Who Lived

Yay! I _finally _finished this chapter. I think it is just about the longest on yet! So enjoy.

Okay, my little brain and I just realized that it would be a good idea to add a disclaimer so here goes: I own no one. Nadda. Nothing. Zip. Zero. The only one I do own is Rick, (you all remember Rick, don't you?). Rick says "My soul is a stain on the ground that Princess Peach walks on." Um, I don't really know what that means though.

Yeah, I am done boring people. Read. Now. Go.

There are some things that are impossible to imagine if you did not see it. Sometimes, you do not have to see something to believe that it is there. For example, many people have not seen a whale before, but still believe that they exist for there are pictures and proof that they do. But there are some circumstances when no matter how much someone insists to you that what they are saying is true, no matter how much proof they present, it sounds as though they are making it up. Thus, the only people who will ever believe that Zelda did not fall into a stampede of race cars are the audience and several of the staff who were on break. In fact, it had all happened so fast that many of the people in the audience doubted what went on.

Captain Falcon screamed again. It was not possible. She couldn't have survived that fall; no could have. One minute she was falling helplessly to the ground, the next she was awake and holding on to his ankle. Zelda held on tight, breathing in and out deeply as Captain Falcon stammered in disbelief. For about half a minute all was still as she just held on, the rest of her body hanging off the edge.

With a great cry, Zelda lift herself up onto the ledge. Captain Falcon was ready to smack her hard in the face, but it would do nothing- the match was over and Zelda had won. She smiled, as she sat on the ground, content with not having to get up. Kicking off her shoes she called to Captain Falcon, "Hey Falcon, still think it's wrong to hit a girl?" He just grunted and left the arena as the crowd continued to cheer on, except for a few of his most loyal fans.

Leaving her shoes there, she got up and went to the Smasher's Lounge, people from a hospital following her to make sure she was alright. Zelda saw Princess Peach grab Roy by his cape and order him to get some water for the elf. She ran to her friend and congratulated her on winning her first match.

"You won! I am so happy! How do you feel?"

But Zelda didn't have time to answer before she cried out in fatigue and passed out, landing on Roy who had just arrived with a bottle of water. Roy lay on the ground uncomfortably, and finally with the help of Marth and Link, he got the princess off of him. Roy and Link helped to prop her up, while Peach gently opened Zelda's mouth and poured some water into it, though most of it just trickled down her chin.

The crowd around Zelda waited anxiously for her to move. Peach tilted the bottle of water to try and get more in her mouth, when Zelda started coughing due to the water that had accidentally been poured in her nose. She looked up, at Roy who was nervously looking down at her with his strong arms holding her up, at Marth who was watching Samus from across the room, at Link who was taking a comb out of his pocket but noticed her looking at him and quickly hid it behind his back, and at Peach who was happily saying to herself "Hooray! She is okay! Now we can go out and have some fun!"

Zelda shook her head. She was feeling a little better, but she still didn't feel like moving, let alone going out. She wanted to celebrate, she could not remember a time when she was happier, but she couldn't think of a time when getting up seemed so tiring. The fight had taken a lot out of her; Captain Falcon probably felt the same right now. "Peach," she said to her friend, "I really don't feel up to doing anything right now." The bubbly princess's expression sank and she looked away disappointed and a bit embarrassed.

"Hold on minute." The voice came from Marth. "Link, don't you have some elixir soup in your pack?"

"Err, _yeah_. But I was kind of savingit for myse"- Link stopped as Roy elbowed him hard in the ribs. "I mean, I would be glad to share it," he finished, fearful of getting whacked that hard again. He reluctantly took a bottle of yellow liquid out of his bag and handed it to Zelda. She opened it and took a large swallow before Link pulled the bottle and the rest of its contents away from her.

"I need the rest for shampoo," he protested as he put the cap back on.

Zelda spat what ever liquid she had left in her mouth out all over Marth. "You mean I just drank half a bottle of shampoo?" she asked suddenly revived, and now giving off a slight yellow aura.

"Well, yeah. At least that is what I use it for. How else do you think my hair gets this radiant glow?" To show he wasn't lying, he pulled of his hat and shook his head gracefully so his glowing hair swished around just right. "It also makes my hair temporarily bullet/arrow proof. I can prove it if you just"-

"We will take your word," Roy said hurriedly.

"Well, let's blow this place. It's Pichu versus Pikachu next so I don't really care who wins; they are both greasy little rats," Peach said changing the subject as she stood up. "I think we should all go out for lunch to celebrate Zelda's battle."

Everyone agreed, and Peach called her dearest boyfriend, Mario, to come join them. Every one split up and met up again at a nice restaurant not far from the coliseum. The group sat down at a large table and began to chat about what they do the rest of the year.

"Full time Princess," Peach told the rest of the people there as she looked over her menu.

"Well, duh," Zelda said. "Is there any other reason we would be calling you _Princess _Peach?"

"Well, I am a professional hero," Link declared proudly. "And a hot one at that." He winked.

"Cool your jets, elf boy." Everyone looked at Mario who was shooting the wrappers off straws. One landed in Link's hair, causing the 'elf boy' to frantically swat at his hair. "I know what you problem is: your problem is you."

"Hey, shut up Mario. I don't have a problem, so shove all your philosophy crap up your butt." He folded his arms and looked away irritated. "And I know what your problem is: your problem is your outfit."

"Don't be dissin' the overalls!" Mario shouted back.

"God, both of you just calm down," Zelda said angrily. "You two should try to get along."

"Yeah," Peach agreed. "Kiss and make up," she demanded.

The two men grudgingly shook hands and kissed each other lightly on each cheek. Link and Mario both turned to their girl friends and said simultaneously, "Happy?"

"If you're happy with each other," Zelda said. Link just crossed his arms and decided to go back to the hotel. Mario thought this was a good idea and left also.

"Let's not let them spoil this lunch," Peach said as she held up her glass. "Let's toast."

"Yes," Marth agreed. "Let us toast to Zelda- the girl who lived."

Roy looked at him. "Dude, you need to get your head out of that Harry Potter book."

By the time the check arrived, Peach and Marth were deep in a detailed conversation about Napoleon's defeat in Waterloo leaving Roy and Zelda to try and put together an awkward conversation.

"So… I guess you're still together with Link," Roy finally said after some time.

"Yep." An uncomfortably long pause followed.

"So, is it something about being an elf that makes you hair obsessive?" he wondered.

Zelda giggled. "I think it is something to do with being a hero. I mean, look at your hair. It looks really hot."

"Well, it's not bullet proof or glowing, but it keeps my head warm," he said as he watched Zelda laugh and eventually he joined in.

"Now you tell me, is it something about having blue hair that makes you Harry Potter obsessive?" Zelda asked when their laughter died down. They both at looked at Marth and his 'Dumbledore for president' pin clipped to his cape.

"No, just a Marth thing. Same with the head band that he wears." He gave her one of his incredible smiles ands she looked down and blushed. She felt a little ridiculous blushing like a high school student when her crush talks to her. But she couldn't help it, every time he smiled it was like everything in the world seemed to go away, just his eyes looking down into her soul and his face telling her of the most wondrous things as she absorbed every word as it came out of his mouth.

"Are you okay, Zelda?" The elf Princess snapped out of her day dream.

"Hmm? Oh, I'm fine," she answered in a dazed tone.

"We are going to have to fight each other eventually aren't we?" Roy said. Zelda nodded. "I am a bit worried about our match. After all, you are really good-for a princess."

Zelda looked up at him slowly, lost for words. Did he really just say what she thought he said? It came out of his mouth so fast, she almost couldn't believe it- Roy had just said 'really good for a princess'. That meant that she was okay, for her "class". Why would he say something like that? He seemed so perfect…

"I better be getting back to the hotel; my…" She stopped for a moment. "My boy friend is probably waiting" she finished quietly as she arose from the table and left the room, Roy watching her with a slightly disappointed look.

"Ooh," Marth said as Roy realized he had been watching his conversation for the last five minutes. "Crashed and burned."

LINE (you just think you don't see it)

"Go Link, go Link, go Link."

"Quit singing for five minutes!" Zelda waited for her boy friend to stop his victory dance before she continued her phone conversation.

"You can't be serious! This is insane. But why don't they let you continue?" Zelda looked over her shoulder and saw Link leaning closer to try and catch what they were talking about. She rolled her eyes and pressed a button to turn on speaker phone.

Peach's voice came out of the phone. "I have no idea why they are making me quit, I have only thrown-up 34 times this morning. Excuse me for a sec." Zelda and Link heard a door slam shut, a pause, the toilet flushing, Peach Yelling at Toadsworth to get her a pack of Tum's and a some breath mints, then her voice again.

"Okay, 35 times."

"I won my match today, though everyone knew I would," Link interrupted.

"That is great Link."

"I know, my opponent was vicious, I could see evil in their eyes. I knew that I would either win, or die trying. We fought to a stand still, my energy was slowly running out and my weapons seemed as though they gained weight. Finally, it was four against four, me in the lead of course, and we charged. I raised my sword and"-

"Jiggly Pufff tripped on a banana peel and fell off the edge," Zelda finished.

"Oh, you were fighting Jiggly Puff?" Peach asked, sounding unimpressed.

"She was a formidable opponent, I know," Link said, not really understanding what Peach was getting at.

"Yeah, and she wears a bow."

"_A bow of evil,_" he said with his eyes narrowed.

"Okay, drama queen, go down to the lobby and see if we have any letters," Zelda ordered.

"Do I _have _to?"

"Link, it is just doing what your best at."

"What is that?"

"Going on pointless errands that turn into four week adventures that you call quests in which you end up unnecessarily saving Hyrule temple." She paused for a second. "Wait, did I just say that out loud?"

Link just looked at her blankly, not understanding anything Zelda had just said.

"Never mind, just go get the mail." Link left the room still trying to comprehend what she had just said.

Zelda finally returned her attention to the phone conversation she had started minutes ago. "So are you still mad at Roy? You seemed really upset at the restaurant."

"Well, it made me think. This is not about relationships; it is about showing people that I am not the weak little girl they think I am."

"Well, I hope you do that. I mean, now that I can't compete in the tournament, I am counting on you."

"Don't worry, Peach. After all, I am 'the girl who lived'."

I don't what to say here except thank you every one that has reviewed and everyone that will be reviewing more (hint hint). Oh yeah, Link has something to say to Turquoise Moonlight and RoyalFanatic

**Link**: Roy/Zelda! HELLO, I am the hot hero with a dashing smile and glowing hair. I get the girl; I already got the girl. Roy geeky loser, me y Champion. Yeah, I am the cool one, he is the dork. Okay, everything's cool now…especially me.


	9. Roy's are Boy!

_Time for chapter 9! There isn't too much longer till the story is over! And then what will we do?  Well, anyways, I hope you like this chapter because it was really really hard to write. I had to redo practically the whole second part! Grr…that was evil. Any who, go ahead and read it! _

No!" she screamed. "Help me Link! Let me free and we can defeat him!" He seemed to be unable to hear her voice. Laughter, dark and full of malice echoed through her head. She screamed again. It was no use, no one would help her. Then, suddenly, there was a flash. She blinked and there was nothing but deep blackness.

Zelda sat up in her bed with a start, breathing heavily. Did she die, or did the flash of light somehow save her? And why hadn't Link tried to help her? Zelda shook her head to clear it of the dream she had just had. She remembered Gannondorf's laugh and something holding her back, but what was it?

Zelda collapsed into her pillow. It seemed as though getting a full night's sleep was just too much to ask. She closed her eyes, but the dream came back into her mind. She thought about what she knew of the dream and tried to piece them together in her mind. There was Gannondorf, something holding her captive, Link not trying to help her, and a white flash. Was this a warning? It seemed likely enough, after all, Link has been saving her from Gannon ever since she can remember and she would often have dreams that came true. But what didn't make sense was that Link had not tried to save her at all. She thought hard trying to remember what else happened, but to no prevail. She sighed and tried to go back to sleep.

When Zelda finally managed to sleep, it was restlessly. She awoke at about a quarter past eleven. Link was not in the room, though she wasn't surprised at this time of day. The elf stepped out of her bed and stretched. She trudged along in the carpet, grabbed her clothes, and changed into them. She took her time, still half asleep.

Zelda looked into her mirror. She saw a thin, large eared elf with long glossy hair that hung gracefully down her back. On her head was a sort of crown-headband that sparkled along with all of her other jewelry. Beneath the long, elegant gown she was wearing the toes of her high-heeled shoes stuck out. It didn't matter how many people she defeated or how strong she was. She still looked like a princess.

The elf removed the jewelry in attempts to make herself seem slightly less princess-like. Still unpleased with what she saw looking back at her, she tried again, this time taking off her entire dress so she was just wearing the slip that was underneath all of her clothes.

"You still look like a princess you know." Zelda swirled around to see who the high pitched voice belonged to. The room was empty except for her. Confused, the princess returned to adjusting her appearance.

"A really dainty princess at that," the voice added. Zelda stood stiff in rage just staring at her reflection in the mirror and making the room shake slightly.

"No need to get all mad or anything. It's just me!" Something small and pebble like hit Zelda in the back of her head. She turned around hastily and saw a small light floating around in front of her.

"Navi!" Zelda cried out, too surprised to be mad. "What are you doing here?"

The fairy floated closer to Zelda so she was almost touching her nose.

"You ask the stupidest questions. Link always bring me with him to give him advice on what to wear and that sort of thing. He would have brought Epona if he could have fit her in his car. I just don't like sitting around in this boring room all day listening to a stuck up princess whine about how dainty she looks." Zelda frowned at this. She picked up Navi by her wings and dropped her in the trash can, which she covered hastily with a large book.

"Let me out! This is fairy abuse!" the fairy cried out as she pounded on the sides of the trash can.

"I could, and then I could leave you there for a while until you learn some manners."

"I'm sorry, Zelda. Now let me out."

"What's the magic word?"

"Tri-force?"

"Close enough." Zelda removed the book and Navi burst out of the trash can, knocking it over in the process. She brushed some of the dirt that was on her and then crossed her arms.

"Now then, I need to look less like a princess. What should I do?" Zelda asked.

"Chop off your hair and then dress like a tramp."

Zelda crossed her arms. "I don't think so Navi…"she said as she braided her hair.

"Trust me, it would be an improvement."

Zelda frowned. "I don't like you," she said quietly.

"I guess we're even then," Navi answered as she darted out the window. As soon as she was out of the room, Zelda shut the window. Finally, there was peace and no obnoxious voice buzzing in her ear. The room seemed suddenly very quiet.

Zelda glanced over at a clock that read 11:37. Another battle would be starting in a short time and if she hurried, she could make it. She yawned for a moment and then searched around the room for her purse. When she found it, she dug through it until she found a pamphlet for the Super Smash Bros. Melee. Glancing over it, she saw at the bottom the time of each battle. The next battle was Yoshi against Roy.

Zelda, suddenly filled with new energy, changed into her clothes not caring whether they looked good or not. Brushing the hair that had come loose from her braid out of her eyes, she hurried down stairs and to the coliseum.

Zelda found a seat in the very last row of the stadium. She looked around hastily, giving a cursory (ooh vocabulary word!) look over the seats to see if she could spot him. Roy thought she was nothing more than a princess, a whiny little palace brat that doesn't know how to fight. Then why did she want to see him fight so much?

The stadium was beginning to fill with people and Zelda started to regret sitting so far in the back now that the seats in front of her had people sitting in them. She craned her neck to see the battle ground, which now took the shape of Termina Great Bay. To the crowds delight, the large screen above the arena showed today's fighters: Roy and Fox. Zelda did a double take and looked from her pamphlet to the screen. The piece of paper in her hand clearly stated that Roy was fighting Yoshi, not Fox. Deep in thought, Zelda at first did not notice the two girls chatting in front of her, but their voices grew louder and bubblier and she finally stopped to hear what they had to say.

"What is with this? I wanted to see Roy beat up the dinosaur, not a dumb fox." The chatting girl flipped her light blonde hair behind her shoulder as the other nodded in agreement.

"I heard that Yoshi had his tongue tied in a knot by someone and he had to drop out." The blonde haired girl gave an incredulous look.

"It's true," her friend defended. Seeing the annoyed look on her friend's face, the blonde changed the subject.

"At least Roy is still entering." The two girls giggled. "I wouldn't have come if he wasn't here."

"I know; he is so hot! I wonder what he looks like without a shirt."

Zelda crossed her arms and scowled.

"I bet he looks good!" she said as they continued their high pitched laughter. They stopped when the blonde girl's hair suddenly caught on a fire that appeared from thin air.

Screaming loudly, the frantic girl bobbed up and down fanning herself with her hands until her friend poured someone's soda on her hair extinguishing the flames. They both ran out of the stadium as Zelda blew away the smoke coming from her fingers.

Roy stood still breathing heavily. He brushed his shaggy brown hair out of his eyes, but it fell right back. The door swung open and he stepped into cold blue water that was surrounding a sort of island. He shook the water off his boots and stepped on the island. Expecting sand, Roy fell forward as the island shook and he realized that this was not an island but a very large turtle that looked uncannily like an island, complete with a palm tree.

Fox was already waiting for him, as was the crowd. Roy didn't quite know if he should attack or not. Fox, who was standing on a wooden platform next to the island, impatiently shot a laser from his gun to give Roy a wake up call. Roy immediately switched his focus on what the half animal/half man was going to do next.

Fox leaped forward with a side kick that moved faster than the eye could see. His heel made a loud 'thud' as it came in contact with Roy's face. He threw more of his lightning fast kicks, each hitting his target with incredible accuracy. It was not even two minutes into the game and Roy was already weakening fast.

Roy cried out as he blocked another of Fox's blows with the handle of his own sword. He leaped to his feet and steadied himself. But Fox was not about to lose his winning streak. He took a moment to press a button on the side of his gun and aimed it at Roy. Unfortunately for him, Roy, when not lost in thought, had sharp reflexes that sprang into action immediately as he ducked and missed the red light that had shot out of Fox's gun. Fox fired several more blows, Roy dodging each one as he sprinted about both the island and the wooden platform. Impatient with no one attacking him, Roy lunged into the air and landed behind Fox delivering a quick blow with his sword. Fox immediately turned around to face his opponent, who delivered a series of quick stabs with his long sword.

Now that he was actually giving his opponent damage, Roy finally felt confident. That is until Fox managed to get in that shot he had been dodging for so long. As the read beam of light left the animal's gun and struck him in the left shoulder, he mentally prepared himself for pain. But the pain did not come, at least not in the way he expected. The shot that he had received had not been meant to inflict damage. Instead, Roy found himself completely paralyzed. Even his long red cape did not sway in the wind as had been a moment before. Unfortunately, he had been trying to move just as the laser had hit him, and the awkward position he was in would not hold him steady and he crashed to the ground. His head was clouded with pain and embarrassment as he struck the wood that now seemed so hard.

Roy had never been sure that animals could snicker, but apparently they could as Fox did so as he stood before his paralyzed opponent. More throbbing came as he began to use any attack that he could think of before the effects of the stun ray wore off. By the time it did wear off, Roy was not in good shape. He blinked, enjoying the ability to move again. His eyes narrowed and he breathed deeply. It was go time.

They charged and Roy managed to knock Fox's gun out of his hand. He gave a series of slashes from his sword and then kicked Fox in the stomach sending him crashing to the ground onto his back. Standing over him, Roy raised his sword. Fox was defenseless; he could easily get a KO. The crowd began to call out his name and several girls in the front row screamed "ROY'S OUR BOY!" as they held up home made signs with his face on it. He was sweating now, and he could hear the beat of his heart stronger than anything else in the room. He brought his sword down fast, though the fear in Fox's eyes seemed to cry out at him for an eternity. He would win, he would be triumphant, she would see.

She didn't see. No one saw him win. Everything just stopped. Roy stopped. Fox stopped. The crowd stopped. No one was moving. No one, except Zelda, that is.

Roy stood in silence watching the last bit of her golden hair follow her out an exit. It was simple: she had left. He was in shock, as was everyone else in the room, but for a different reason then them. Zelda had left during his fight, and she didn't seem to be going to the restroom. Her elegant face had been sculpted into an expression of disappointment, obviously in him.

Had he not been good enough for her? Was she still mad about him saying that she was just a princess? He was so confused, upset, and disappointed all at the same time that it took minutes for him to realize he had missed his perfect opportunity. The crowd was now booing him, something that had only occurred to him in nightmares. Fox had risen now leaving Roy with no opening at his opponent and, even worse, a bad reputation with Zelda. He hadn't been good enough for her; he hadn't been good enough for anyone. He had failed. Fox, reminding him that the battle was not over yet, threw a fist at his nose causing it to bleed.

At this moment, something inside Roy snapped (and no, it was not his nose). His eyes perked as did the hair on the back of his head. He ran forward, fury in his eyes. Slashing blindly at Fox, it wasn't long before he had as much damage as the sword-wielding pyromaniac. The crowd had stopped booing and most of them simply sat watching him. Roy's method of attack was not perfect, far from it, and Fox did manage to get blows through to his face and jaw, but the man just kept coming back with as much energy as the first time he charged.

With one minute left, Roy had made up for missing his opportunity, but he had been focusing so hard on killing Fox, he had no idea who was winning. Both Fox and Roy were exhausted; the fight had used much of their energy. Fox shook his head dazedly and tried to hold his balance, but his knees seemed unable to keep him steady. Roy leaned against his sword, his chest heaving with each panting breath. Neither opponent seemed able to do anything but be still and wait for the other to move.

Roy doubted whether he could walk more than a yard, so instead he just stood still thinking. He wanted to quit, he wanted to move. He wanted to know what she thought of him, what he did wrong, why he would never be more than friend, if even that. Nothing he wanted to do was happening. His head was feeling sweaty and hot. 'My hair does keep my head warm' he thought with a weak smile. That's what he had said to her, of all things. It was so stupid-why didn't he think of something that would sweep her off her feet? His mind went back to lunch with Zelda trying to think why he had said the remark about his hair. He had said "Is it something about being an elf that makes you hair obsessive?" She had answered "I think it has something to do with being a hero. Your hair looks really hot".

Roy's eyes lit up. His whole body felt revived. She said his hair was hot. He said it out loud now. "She thinks my hair is hot!" Fox just looked up at him, clearly confused. So she hadn't said she was deeply and passionately in love with him. Hey, it was a start. He said it louder now. "She thinks my hair is hot!" He smiled a wide grin and picked up his sword.

Fox was so taken a back he didn't even remember that he was fighting this loony, not watching him from a safe distant. Before he knew it, Roy had delivered one final blow to his stomach knocking him off the edge, giving him another point. Roy leaped into the air, but the adrenaline rush had worn off and instead of landing gracefully on the ground, he fainted.

Roy opened one eye lid lazily. He saw blue hair and a smiling face. A "Dumbledore for President" pin soon came into focus.

"Marth!" he cried.

"Finally your up. I completed half of the second Harry Potter book while you were asleep." Roy chuckled and looked around himself. He was in the Smasher's Lounge feeling better than ever. The room was almost empty, with the exception of Samus who had been waiting with Marth. She seemed curious as what was going on, but it was hard to tell with her armor, which he assumed was metal because of the "Dumbledore for President" magnet on it, covering any emotion she might have had.

"See you've made a new friend."

Marth blushed. "Err…yeah." His shy expression changed to one of excitement. "You did amazing on that battle! Everyone thought you would lose because you missed that perfect KO and he had you under that stun ray and all. But you showed them! Sometime around when he broke your nose you went on this mad frenzy and you killed him _four times_!"

"But, I was so…weak. I just remember before I passed out, I didn't do very well and I was feeling awful."

"Well, yeah," Marth stated plainly. "Of course you weren't feeling too good; you just killed him four times without him giving you a KO at all!"

The two sat in silence, Roy just taking it in. He honestly didn't think he would win, or at least he wasn't paying attention to it at all. They were silent until Marth remembered something.

"Roy, when you were about to attack Fox for the last time you shouted something. What was it?"

"Let's just say I think I understand how Link feels."

_And that is it! Different point of view, huh? Well, don't have much to say but I will assure you that Roy does not go hair obsessive like Link. Don't worry. TTFN_


	10. Secrets of the Tree

_Happy Holidays! I hope you all like this chapter because #1 it took forever to write and #2 it has Sheik in it! Woo! This is just my idea how the whole alter-ego thing works, so if it's not exactly like the game or whatever just be cool. Aight, reading time!_

Zelda broke out into a swift run, the stadium door swinging shut behind her. Why was she running? Why did she care? Even she didn't know. The elf gradually slowed down and without really thinking found the door to the Smasher's Lounge. She pushed open the door and collapsed onto the couch.

The lounge was dark and empty, it almost looked like an entirely different room than the one that she had been in yesterday. It was quiet, a peaceful quiet compared to the loud bustle that seemed to always fill the lounge. It seemed strange that the place was empty, but Zelda's mind was too distraught to think of it much longer.

She had promised herself that she wouldn't get involved in this emotionally. Entering this tournament was just about showing the world what she could do, not meeting new guys. She shouldn't even be thinking about him in that sort of way. But for some reason, seeing Roy get hurt was too much for her to watch. Luckily, she didn't think he noticed her leave.

Zelda felt a yank on her hair and instinctively swatted at it. She missed, but she found what was messing with her hair. With a deep sigh she buried her face in her hand and said in a blunt voice, "What do you want, Navi?"

"Nothing. I just thought of how you can develop your non-princess self."

Zelda's pained expression turned to one of surprise and interest. "Really! Tell me!"

"Well," she said with a smirk, "If you're willing to pay…"

"Alright, here's a deal. You tell me your idea or I pull off your wings."

Navi gulped and backed away. "On second thought, how about I help you free of charge, my treat?" Zelda smiled triumphantly and nodded.

"Here is my idea: we go visit the great Deku tree," Navi said.

"What! That's it? That's your idea? Oh, big whoop. Incase you have forgotten, the Deku tree is practically dead and even if he was alive, he would be all the way in Hyrule."

Navi threw something round and hard that hit Zelda on the side of her head. She rubbed the spot where it hit glaring at Navi as she picked up the item. It was the Ocarina of Wind (TM). Proudly made in China, the Ocarina is one of the most majestic of all instruments, and Zelda gazed upon it as the blue plastic glittered in the light surrounding Navi. She picked it up and blew into it. A dull defeated sound came out of the instrument. Navi rolled her eyes and Zelda tried again blowing harder. This time, a crisp clean note reverberated through the rooms.

But the note was soon drowned out by the beating of wings. Suddenly, a large bird broke through a window causing pieces of glass to shatter everywhere. Covering her head to protect it, Zelda screamed to Navi "What the heck is going on?" The bird, which looked like an oversized owl, picked up Zelda by the shoulders and carried her through the window as though she was prey that the animal found for dinner.

Navi grabbed onto Zelda's hair as the bird carried them outside and up into the sky. Zelda had never been good when it came to being carried about 75ft above the ground by a large, strange bird and she closed her eyes so she wouldn't have to look at the ground. After about a minute, Zelda was too anxious and opened her eyes. She was in Hyrule. It was extremely frightening, but a fast way to travel.

The land looked beautiful from up here. She could see her castle and Kokori Village with all the munchkins running around in their dorky little green outfits. The mountains looked serene, as did the coast with its crystal waters. Everything seemed so beautiful and relaxing-

Zelda screamed. The bird had dropped her and she was falling quite quickly to the ground. The bird waved and called out to her "Bon Voyage!"

Zelda stopped screaming for a minute. "Whoa. You can talk." Her amazed expression changed abruptly as she landed in the branches of a tree. She blinked in pain and surprise.

"Come, my child," a loud voice said.

"I'm not a child, I'm twenty one."

"Er, yes, very well then." The tree shook itself suddenly so hundreds of leaves, as well as the princess, fell to the earth. When Zelda had recovered from the fall to the ground, she looked up in amazed silence as leaves fell from her skirt. The great Deku tree stood before her with a sage expression across his trunk.

"I know why you are here."

"Really? You do? How?"

"Navi told me in advance."

"Oh," Zelda said a little unimpressed.

"But the point is I can help. You want to be known as a fighter and not as a Princess. You simply need to look inside yourself and find the true warrior inside you. I shall from this day on guide you to self-purity."

"You do know I have about a day before my next match."

"Well, then we shouldn't waste any more talking." The Deku Tree replied. "Your training begins now." Several peach-like fruits suddenly shot forward at Zelda. She nimbly dodged the first seven of the fruit, but number eight hit her shoulder leaving a dark red splatter on her dress. "Now," the tree directed, "put this bucket on your head." Navi, who was eagerly waiting for something to do, picked up a bucket full of water and placed it on Zelda's head, sloshing water everywhere as she did so.

Zelda stood trying her best to balance the bucket that was so delicately placed on her head. She raised her arms and stepped gingerly to keep it from falling. The Deku tree shot more of his mystery fruit at Zelda, but with the bucket on her head she was not so agile. She managed to miss one fruit before the bucket toppled over and the water spilled soaking Zelda and her clothes completely. Navi sat on a branch laughing to a point were she was almost crying.

The Deku Tree waited for her to shake off the majority of the water and then said to her "Now, Zelda, have a seat in one of my branches." Zelda did as the tree instructed and climbed up the tree until she reached a thick branch that would support her weight. "Tell me, do you know much of your family's history?"

Zelda thought for a moment. "Yes."

The tree shook its branches so a fruit landed in Zelda's hands which she took gratefully. "So you know of their power?"

Zelda gave a questioning look and held up her finger which was emitting a blue light. She was clearly confused and the Deku Tree took it that she did not know this part about her family. "No, not your magical abilities. Let me tell you a story. Several generations ago, when your great-great-great-great-grandfather was a boy, he aspired to be a sage. However, as the successor to the king, he was not permitted to learn as it would interfere with his lessons of how to rule the land of Hyrule properly. So, being the audacious boy that he was, he came to me for help. He had thought about this carefully and concluded that he needed to somehow change his appearance so he could sneak out of the castle carefully and become an apprentice. And how do you think I did this?"

"Uh, you gave him a temporary sex-change?"

"No, I gave him an alter-ego."

"Right, right, an alter-ego. Yes I see…what's an alter-ego?"

"It is simply your mind and soul in another form." Zelda didn't know what to say. The Deku Tree seemed to be one of those trees that talked in metaphors and always took the long, spiritual way when it came to speaking. Zelda was all too familiar with this type of personality and she found it best to not even bother trying to understand and if it's important someone might explain better. At her silence the tree asked, "Have you ever done something that you never meant to have done? I don't mean something that you regret later, but something that happens and you feel you have no control over it?"

Zelda thought for a moment. This seemed a strange question to ask. Everyday she did things that she didn't think about, like falling asleep in the middle of the day or hitting Link. But it seemed like the Deku tree meant something different, something strange. She dug through her memory, thinking about strange occurrences that had happened to her in her lifetime. She thought of when she was still a child and was captured for the first time by Gannondorf. She thought of her whole life time, or as much as she could remember in such a short amount of time, and finally something did seem to answer the Deku tree's question.

When Zelda was 18 she found herself smitten with Link. She would watch him from her window ride his horse through the large field that spread out across the southern end of Hyrule. He looked elegant, yet rugged at the same time with his hair blowing in the wind and his blue eyes deep in concentration. But, as often happens when being the princess of Hyrule, she was forbidden to visit him. So instead she gazed out her window pining for a chance to meet this man that had caught her heart.

As the days went on, her desire to meet him grew into an obsession. Zelda found herself watching his daily riding practice religiously and leaving the other things in her life abandoned and untouched for several days. When she peered out her window one morning to see not only Link, but a poor-looking country girl as well she could no longer bear it.

That night Zelda returned to her window watching the field as if somehow Link would awake and come out and ride for her. She kept thinking, wishing, and wondering, and soon her thoughts had carried her effortlessly off to sleep. It seemed a short while before she awoke. She reached out to shut the door to block out the cold wind that was filling her room when she noticed Link's house. Smoke curled out of the chimney and she could see a faint flickering light from a window. He was awake. She was awake. Now was time.

After shutting the window, she stood up and stretched. She felt strange, as if she was weightless. The sensation felt dreamlike, she seemed still asleep. It rather bothered her, and she hugged herself for comfort but the feeling remained.

When she turned around Zelda had to put her hand over her mouth to keep her from screaming. She found her odd feeling forgotten completely as she stood gaping at none other than her self sitting where she had been only a few minutes ago. She cautiously stepped closer and touched the body sitting beside the window sill. She shifted slightly, but remained asleep. Her head was resting against the wall and her was arm was sprawled about in a slovenly manner. The body's arm swatted at Zelda.

She seemed harmless, just tired, but that's not what bothered Zelda. What made Zelda worried is that if that was her body sleeping, than what was she? This didn't make any sense to her. It all seemed like a dream. She pinched herself just to make sure. She wasn't dreaming, or at least pain wasn't enough to wake her up. Zelda looked up and remembered Link. He was surprisingly still up and his little cottage still gave off a cozy light from the fire, though it was growing fainter as the logs burned.

Deciding to leave her body alone for now, she ran through the castle hallway to get outside. She was running at quite a fast pace until she whammed into a guard. He gave her a harsh look and said, "How did you get inside the castle? No visitors are allowed in the castle at this hour!"

"What? But I'm-" Zelda started but before she could finish, the guard grabbed her by her collar, dragged her outside and threw her against the cement. Rubbing her head, Zelda wondered if she was going crazy. Somehow the guard didn't recognize her. It was as if she wasn't herself anymore. She got up and noticed the quiet sound of a fountain trickling. With a fear of what she might see, Zelda cautiously approached the fountain and leaned over the side to see what her reflection looked like.

She let out a piercing scream and collapsed on the ground unconscious.

&&&&

"Very interesting," the Deku Tree replied when she had finished.

"I've never told anyone about this before," Zelda admitted quietly. "But was this my alter ego? I mean, when I was grabbed by the guard and he threw me outside, I was in another body right?"

"You were in another body, but not someone else's mind you. Did you see yourself in your alter ego?"

Zelda nodded. "I was so frightened to see someone else looking back at me. I couldn't believe I looked like _that_. I was so different. My face and body was wrapped in cloth and even my eyes were different color. It was so strange."

The Deku Tree let out a large echoing laugh and his branches shook vigorously. "You never know what your inner spirit looks like!" He continued laughing until he noticed Zelda clinging onto his branch with a panicked look stricken across her face. "Well, are you ready to develop this ninja inside you?"

"Do you think I am?" she asked as she repositioned herself on the branch.

"Yes, Zelda," he said slowly, "I do indeed."

_Now that reading time is over, it's now reviewing time (if you want to). Hey, who here wants Animal Crossing: Wild World? I want it really bad, but first I need to get a DS…Hey, what are the holidays for? _

_Later!_


	11. Untitled

_Hey, what do you know? I've finally decided to update! Now go on before I change my mind. Wait, that doesn't make much sense. Eh, never mind me. Just read it._

"I'm walking on sunshine. Whoa! Oh I'm walking on sunshine," Link sang loudly and slightly of key as he rinsed the last bit of conditioner out of his hair. He closed his eyes and continued to sing, oblivious to a neighbor that was yelling at him to shut up. Only when he felt he was completely done washing himself and had turned off the shower did he heed the neighbor's wishes.

Link wrapped a towel around himself and shook his head so water shot out and drenched most of the hotel bathroom. He sighed contentedly ignoring the splatters on the mirror. It was time for the best part of the day, the thing that made him get out of bed each morning, truly a man's greatest pleasure:

EYE BROW PLUCKING!

With that done, it was time for the _other_ thing that made him get up each morning. He reached for a hair dryer as well as three different brushes recommended by his stylist. Grinning a very excited smile, he was about to turn on the hair dryer when he was stopped by the nagging voice of a girlfriend.

"Link, you've been in the bathroom for over half an hour," Zelda yelled as she opened the door and popped her head in.

Link was surprised. "When did you get here?" he asked.

Zelda rolled her eyes. "I've been here before you took your shower. You just didn't hear me because you were singing too loudly." Then she added, "Don't you even think about drying your hair. It'll be another hour before I get to even take a shower!"

Link sighed and looked at her very seriously. "Zelda, have you ever heard of Michelangelo?"

"Uh…yeah," she answered slowly, slightly taken aback by this unusual question. "What does that have anything to do with-"

"One of his most famous is called 'The Statue of David.' The sculpture made Michelangelo the most famous artist of the time. Today people still gaze in awe at the marvelous beauty of the piece." Zelda gave a blank look suggested she wanted very much to just get to the point. Link pointed to himself and said "Michelangelo." He held up the brush and hairdryer and said "Hammer and chisel." Finally, after he set down his tools he ran his fingers through his hair and said with his eyes closed and a face lost in the glory of it all, "Statue of David."

Zelda just shut the door as Link smiled triumphantly.

&&&

Sheik. Her name would be Sheik. It was simple and elegant. Sheik. She is Sheik.

The girl who called herself Sheik sat quietly on a park bench watching squirrels run by and occasionally attack the pigeons. She had found Sega Park a few days before, but this was her first chance to actually visit it. It was a fine park, lush with trees and grass and fountains that resembled strange hedge hogs and a few Nintendo related items along with several signs that read 'do not feed the wildlife'.

She sighed contentedly; it had been a long time since she was this relaxed. Dressed as her normal self, Zelda found it hard to visit public places without being mauled by a crowd wanting her to pose for a picture or shake hands or kiss babies, (well actually not the last part). But as Sheik, no one cared. She would never be bothered again, as long as no one found out her new identity. In her mind, Zelda gave a prayer to the Deku Tree for the wondrous gift he had given her. There was only one problem with her alter ego: she had to find somewhere to hide her normal body. And not to mention it was a very odd sensation of being Sheik and stepping into Zelda.

The serenity was interrupted as she was suddenly joined on her bench. She turned and saw a round pink ball. Zelda screamed. The ball had a face. The two large blue eyes looked at her and blinked. A smile appeared on his face and red feet popped out.

"Wh-who are you?" she asked a little frightened at the mysterious pink blob.

Suddenly, an upbeat little tune played and the ball began to sing while doing a little dance. "First you draw a circle, then you dot the eyes. Add a great big smile and presto: it's KIRBY!" Kirby landed his last flip then smiled broadly.

"Uh…would you quit smiling like that, it's really starting to creep me out," Zelda told Kirby.

Kirby didn't stop, he just said in a slightly unnerving voice, "Hiiiii."

"I'm just going to go…." She got up from the bench and slinked away quietly. She turned away and started walking at a decent pace for several meters, then stopped and looked behind her. There was that creepy little ball again still smiling at her. He waved and rocked back and forth gently. _Disturbing_, Zelda thought to herself

She tried to ignore him and kept running, but Kirby could roll surprisingly much faster than she could run. Also, being a round pink ball, he could jump exceptionally high which meant that after he got tired of rolling, he was able to simply jump up onto the ninja girl's shoulders. Now Zelda was getting irritated. She swatted at him and shook her shoulders. She cried out in frustration as he slipped and grabbed on the first thing he saw: a pointy elf ear slightly sticking out of Sheik's hood.

Most of the guests at Hudson Park had witnessed few peculiar incidents, and a woman wrapped in cloth with a pink blob latched onto her ear ranked pretty high. People watched (at a safe distance) as she swiveled about shouting at the ball to let go. Finally, she stopped, gave him a good karate chop and he plummeted to the ground.

Zelda looked down at Kirby with narrowed. "Anything else you want to do to embarrass me?" She crossed her arms. "And I thought being princess of Hyrule got you a lot of attention," she muttered to herself. Immediately she regretted saying that.

"A princess!" Kirby shouted with an impressed smile.

"Shut up!" Zelda hissed. "I don't want anyone to know I'm Princess Zelda!"

"Why would you not want anyone to know that you're Princess Zelda?" Kirby asked in his loud obnoxious voice. People turned now to look at her and whispered to each other if that really was Zelda.

"Will you be quiet if I give you some candy?" Zelda proposed.

Kirby, obviously intrigued by this offer, nodded with a wide grin. Zelda dug into her pocket, found a couple pieces of candy, as well as a paper clip and traces of pocket lint which she held out in her hand. Kirby snatched everything the princess held in her hand and stuffed it into his mouth, paperclip and all. "You know, eating the wrapper was neither necessary nor wise…"

Kirby's eyes glinted with a sudden new energy, and Zelda realized that feeding Kirby candy had not been the smartest thing in the world. Kirby bounced and screamed and shouted and embarrassed Zelda beyond reason. Park residents, who had gradually been closing in to see if Zelda was who the pink ball claimed she was, suddenly retreated back to their picnic blankets and benches.

"CANDY, CANDY, CANDY!" Kirby cried. "Princess Zelda!" he repeated in a sing-song voice, followed by phrases yelled so fast, it sounded like (and possibly was) gibberish.

Zelda clamped a hand over Kirby's very active pie-hole and ran with him in her arms until she was safe from anyone who might hear him. "I'm going to let go of your mouth if you promise not to say a word."

Kirby nodded.

"Do you swear?"

Kirby nodded.

"Cross you heart, hope to die?"

Kirby nodded.

"Not a peep?"

Kirby nodded.

"Promise?"

Kirby nodded.

"No joking?"

Kirby nodded. She released her hand from his mouth.

"Princess Zelda!" he shouted as he bounced around wildly.

Zelda let out a defeated sigh and smack her forehead. "You are a real pain in the ass, you know that?"

Kirby halted. "Oooooh," he said resembling a small schoolboy, "You made a swear."

"Well personally I think in the situation it was well deserved."

But Kirby didn't seem to have heard her. He looked suddenly dazed and tired. Apparently his sugar rush was over. He stumbled a few paces then collapsed onto Zelda's lap fast asleep.

"Mental note," Zelda said to herself, "don't feed the wildlife."

&&&

It was late afternoon by the time Zelda trudged into the hotel lobby. She noticed Link had found a map and discovered which floor the lobby was on and was now yelling at an employee standing behind a podium.

"There was only one chocolate in my room, and it was white chocolate," Link informed the employee while brining a fist down on the podium. "I tried it and it was horrible!" he said flinging the box with the rest of the chocolate at the employee.

The tired man in a maroon colored uniform looked down at the box then back at Link. "Sir, this is soap. And I don't work in customer service. I'm the valet."

"I don't care if you're the Queen of England! I demand milk chocolate!" It was then that Link noticed Zelda. He greeted her and dropped the conversation he was previously having as though it didn't happen. "Where were you?" he asked Zelda.

"Err, just taking a walk in the park." She didn't mention that she had to drag Kirby back to the park then find the tree where she had hidden her normal body. "So what were you doing today?" Zelda asked trying to change the subject.

"I locked my keys in my car," he answered crossing his arms and looking away embarrassed.

"Did you get them out?"

"Yeah." He still looked sheepish.

"There's more to this then you're telling isn't there," Zelda inquired eying him incredulously.

"A little." There was a pause. "Look, it involved a panda, a hospital dress and a tricycle. That's all I'm going to say, I really don't want to get into it."

"Were you by any chance riding that tricycle?"

Another pause before Link replied, "I don't have to answer that question."

"Don't tell me. It's funnier just imagining it." She smiled then laughed. Link crossed his arms indignantly for a moment, then smiled a bit. "I guess it was _sort_ of funny." He let out a small chuckle. Zelda raised an eyebrow. "Sort of funny?"

"Alright, it is pretty hilarious thinking about it now," Link said. He joined Zelda in her fit of laughter. When their laughter faded, they looked at each other and smiled. "Zelda…" Link began as he took her hand tenderly. "I've missed spending time with you."

Zelda looked back into his eyes, surprised at first to the caring tone in his voice. "Yeah, we have been sort of…distant lately." She let him take her other hand in his. Afternoon sunlight was filling the room through the glass doors of the lobby, and Link was bathed in its light giving his hair an extra bit of glow, though it could have been the effects of the elixir. "We could do something tonight. You know, together?"

"We could stay right here together and I would be happy." Zelda felt her cheeks flush. That was pretty much the most romantic thing Link had said to her in a long time, and she fell for every word of it. She rested her head gently against his chest and listened to the rapid beat of his heart as he wrapped his arms around her. Aw…

"Ahem." Zelda and Link jumped apart at their sudden intrusion. A lanky bellboy held a letter in each hand. He handed one to Link and the other to Zelda and they saw it was from the coliseum. "I guess we both have battles tomorrow," Zelda observed quietly. "Wonder who we're fighting."

Each opened their letter and read it silently. There was a moment's pause, and then they both looked up at each other with surprised expressions. Simultaneously, they took another look at their letters and shouted "You!"

A/N: If anyone doesn't understand the whole sheik/Zelda thing in this story (and I totally don't blame you if you don't, I never really explained it) then just tell me in a review and I'll try and clear it up. Oh, and I did get Wild World for X-mas. It rocks.


	12. Pretty in Pink

"Link?" Zelda turned her head so her cheek rested against her pillow. "You awake?"

"Huh?" Zelda could see through the darkness the silhouette of Link lift his head up and blink sleepily and unintelligently.

"Link, I was thinking…" Zelda stopped as she heard throaty snores escape Link's mouth. "Link!" He jumped up with a start.

"I'm awake, I'm awake!" Now he seemed a little less drowsy.

"Good. I was thinking…about today." There was a pause before she continued. "I really enjoyed going out to dinner with you and stuff."

"Yeah, I would enjoy going out to dinner with me too."

"We have to fight tomorrow and, well, I just don't want it to change-us to change- just because of some stupid contest."

There was a moment as Link took this in. "It's a scholarship program actually."

Zelda shook her head exasperated. "Whatever! The point is I don't want this to come between us." She fixed her gaze directly at his eyes with her commanding expression. "Promise me Link, we come first, then the tournament, then your hair."

"Don't forget my car. I think that belongs somewhere on there." Seeing Zelda's 'I should have known he wouldn't listen' face, he quickly added, "And yeah, I promise. Us first." A grin appeared instantly on her face and she got up and threw her arms around Link. He held her for a moment then let her release him. They climbed into bed, and Zelda finally got a night of undisturbed tranquility.

&&&

Despite their little discussion the previous night, a tight tension held the room as Zelda and Link got up that morning. Outside was just as bad. The morning was cloudy and a chill could be felt deep in their bones as the two walked through the parking lot. There was that peaceful morning absence of people, but the quiet only seemed to make the dreading moments before their battle even more uncomfortable.

The inside of the coliseum was much like the hotel and the parking lot and the rest of the world: almost empty and not quite ready to begin the day. It was obvious that the sun had yet to shine on the building as employees mechanically swept and prepared looking much like zombies for the crowds that would soon be pouring into the coliseum.

Zelda and Link were greeted by a few other contestants fighting that day. They signed into an attendance sheet then parted ways to prepare for their match, which was in about forty-five minutes. Zelda immediately headed into the women's locker room. It was empty, which was no surprise since there were only three other women participating. Wait no, Marth is a guy. Whatever.

Zelda decided the best place to change into her alter ego would be in a bathroom stall. Then she would hide her body in one of the lockers. As she stepped out of the bathroom and looked down at her hands wrapped in cloth, she couldn't help but feel a bit smug at her powerful appearance. No one would doubt her strength now, the strength that she could now feel coursing through her entire body.

Then Zelda's eyes, looking up, met the bathroom mirror. She stared at the face in front of her. It was harsh and her eyes did not have the soft color they usually did. It was different, foreign to her. No, it was more than that. Something inside her seemed to be missing. It was like when she shed her ordinary appearance, she lost more than that, a part of the mind and soul that made up Zelda was missing. And with that missing part of her came a new mind set. It was aggressive and cold. Like a true fighter, she supposed.

Like the fighter she wasn't. She wasn't Sheik. She was Zelda, an insecure little girl wrapped inside the Princess package. Sheik may be her only chance of winning, but this competition was her only chance at proving that Zelda, princess of Hyrule, could inflict bodily harm on people. Zelda bit her lip. She knew she had to make a decision of doing what was right, and doing what was easy. And you only imagined that this line came from Harry Potter.

When Zelda left the ladies' room, she sat down on a couch smoothing the cloth on her legs so her pink dress would not appear wrinkled.

&&&

_I know this is really short, but I plan on updating again within the week. Be on the watch, next is Zelda and Link's battle and there are going to be a few surprises! Fun, fun, fun!_

-LoZeldafreak


	13. Fight or Die

_Look everyone! It's been only a week and I updated! I feel so proud, since this is like a record for this story. I think I deserve a pat on the back for that (and some soda). Anyways, please enjoy this chapter._

A small sound could be heard as Zelda and Link gingerly brought their glasses together. In any other situation, their toast would be one of celebration and cheer, but this morning their faces were grim as the two cups, which held water to help ease their pill down their throat, met. They swallowed their pills with one large gulp than set their glasses upon a counter, unable to meet each other's eyes.

"Good luck," Zelda said breaking the piercing silence. Link nodded, and Zelda didn't know what else to say. She hadn't thought about having to hurt Link and now she really didn't want to, especially not after the way he had treated her the day before. It had occurred to her before that it was possible to not hurt him, but this meant losing the battle and she was in no way ready to quit, not after so many people had been eliminated.

A large hand grasped Zelda's shoulder and she jumped at the sudden intrusion to her thoughts. She swiveled around to see who had touched her.

"GANNONDORF!" Zelda cried out unable to keep herself from shouting in surprise. The tall man snickered. "W-what are you…?"

"Haven't you heard? I'm joining your little battle."

Zelda crossed her arms defiantly. "Says who?" she demanded, shifting her weight to her left leg.

"Why, the Nintendo Bros. of course," Gannondorf replied coolly.

Zelda was about to protest when the announcer spoke first to the audience. "Are you ready for our smashers?" The audience cheered as the arena doors opened.

"I guess that's our queue," Link acknowledged as he took Zelda's hand and pulled her out, the princess still looking at Gannondorf in disbelief. As the fighters entered the arena, which now resembled the ruins of Hyrule Temple (how fitting), the crowd appeared to scream louder but the noise could not be heard once the door of the arena had closed. Both Zelda and Link looked at each other in disbelief.

"I hope its not a problem that I asked for a sound-proof arena. I find the crowd distracting."

"Uh," Link began, "Well actually…"

"Good."

Though the outside noise was blocked, the 'go alarm' had been channeled through so the fighters could tell that the match had begun. At first, the battle seemed almost calm with each participant eyeing the other, Zelda with cautiousness and Gannondorf with malicious confidence, (Link just impatient). However, the tranquility ended abruptly as Zelda found her rival targeting her first.

Gannondorf threw a punch, slow but powerful, at Zelda's stomach, but she dodged it easily. Now it was her turn. She ducked and went for a low kick. Gannondorf jumped, avoiding the blow as easily as she had his. It was obvious that their opponents were not the novice fighter they had expected.

Zelda thanked the goddesses above that she had learned combat moves as Gannondorf's attack method left her no time for magic. His blows came so fast, she barely had time to attack before dodging or blocking the next of his punches. At last, Zelda did a handspring backwards to get away from her opponent for at least a few moments. When she landed, she immediately closed her eyes and chanted a quick incantation. Gannondorf was struck down by an unseen force and his head slammed against a large stone. He sat up and felt the blood that was now trickling down the side of his cheek. His face, at first shocked by the power contained inside Zelda, turned to one of amusement.

"I see you have been taught well, Zelda. But do you really think your little tricks can save you when you are faced with true power?"

Gannondorf stood solid as rock, his burning eyes deep in concentration as he chanted. As a mage, she was able to understand the long string of words despite the speed they were uttered. As purple light shone deep in his eyes and began to envelop his hands she recognized the spell he was enchanting. The victim would suffer from burning spasms in their lungs, and eventually die from the inability to breath. This was not a spell attempted by a wizard who lacked confidence, nor was it used without evil intent. Unfortunately, Zelda only knew of one counter charm and she had yet to even speak it, let alone use it against a mage as powerful as Gannondorf.

Zelda closed her eyes, ready to attempt the counter, but she opened them abruptly as she heard Gannondorf give a small grunt as he was hit with an arrow in his shoulder. Link grinned proudly and Zelda looked around noticing arrows several yards away from where she and Gannondorf were standing. Apparently Link had been attacking; he just didn't have very good aim. Gannondorf pulled the arrow out of the leather on his armor.

Both Zelda and Link backed up, waiting for the eminent fury that they knew the arrow had evoked. But the fury did not come. Instead, he simply snapped the arrow in half as he sighed and said, "I've had enough of this."

For a split second, Zelda thought he was going to quit. But instead he pulled out of his pocket a ball, half white half red. "I wanted to kill you myself, but there is a time limit so I suppose I'll have to compensate."

"What?" Zelda and Link cried simultaneously. "You can't kill us in here, we took the pills. We'll just awake good as new," Zelda stated.

"Ever heard of the term placebo?"

Zelda's mouth opened in shock. Link just stood confused. "What's a placebo?" he asked his girlfriend.

"It's a fake. He gave us a fake drug. The pill we took didn't do anything," she answered.

"That means he _can_ kill us!" Link's eyes widened.

"That's right, Linky-boy!" Gannondorf called out. "Which reminds me," he said as he dropped the ball then pulled a red notebook out of his back pocket. It read on the cover 'life goals'. "Let's see," he said as he thumbed through it. "Date an Asian celebrity, no. Learn to crochet, no. Visit Guam, no." He continued to flip through the pages until he reached almost the last page. "Ah here it is. Kill Link and Zelda." He checked the page off then closed the book and stuffed it back into his pocket.

Link and Zelda exchanged glances then shrugged. They looked back at Gannondorf who was attempting to open the ball, but with no success, giving them time to talk.

"Link, you fought him before. How did you do it?"

Link was eager to answer. "See, the trick is outsmarting him. It's a subtle tactic, but I find-"

Link was interrupted as he and Zelda were for a moment blinded by a bright light. When the glow had faded, they saw a caterpillar so large his antennae grazed the top of the glass dome covering the arena. Gannondorf laughed at the deer-in-the-headlight expressions of his adversaries. "It's just a little present from my fraternity-brother, Ash."

"Oh snap, it's a giant Caterpie!" Link shouted.

Zelda turned to him confused. "A what?"

"Don't you watch the show? It's a Caretpie, you know…Ooh you're my best friend in a world we must defend," he sang. After Link finished singing the whole theme song, Zelda's expression remained confused. Apparently this elf didn't get up every Saturday at six to watch cartoons. "It's a pokemon," Link explained exasperated. He looked back at the giant monster. "Though in the cartoon show it's generally about 2 feet tall," he added.

The conversation ended abruptly as Link and Zelda jumped away avoiding a large glob of web that the creature had shot out from its mouth. When Zelda got to her feet, she readied herself to take on Caterpie, but Gannondorf had different plans. Before she even noticed him attacking, a small ball of purple light struck her in the forehead. Her body began to walk uncontrollably towards a large stone pillar. Mind control. Zelda silently cursed as she tried to force herself to stand still. But the spell was too strong, and struggle though she might, she found herself banging her head repeatedly against a pillar. She could feel the warm trickle of blood on her the side of her forehead.

Zelda had hoped that after the mind control wore off and she was sufficiently bruised, Gannondorf would target Link instead. However the dark wizard apparently had a score to settle with Zelda and her death was the only thing that would satisfy him. As soon as she was released from the mind control spell, Gannondorf levitated several stone support beams and raised them ominously above Zelda. When he lifted the spell and they came crashing down to earth, it took a great deal of her strength to conjure her own charm to move them away. One struck Gannondorf knocking him onto his back giving Zelda enough time to spring over to her opponent and throw several punches to his face and a swift kick to the groin. Ouch.

When Gannondorf recovered from Zelda's sudden attack, he was not happy. The confident smirk across his face moments before had vanished now and his eyes glowed in fury. Of course, what do you expect when you kick a man in the crotch while wearing heels?

His voice a throaty stampede of words, his teeth gritted in rage, Gannondorf unleashed a beam of purple fire that hit Zelda squarely in the chest. She was thrust back several yards. It would have been much farther, but she hurdled into another stone pillar. A loud crack sounded as her neck hit the pillar with such force that it snapped to the side. Her body fell to the ground limply.

Gannondorf in one large leap came to Zelda. She was lying on her back with her knees bent and pointing to one side and her arms sprawled out, one across her chest. He turned her onto her side and he saw his inkling was correct: her neck had snapped as she hit the column. He used his thumb to pry open her eyelids. The whites of her eyes were pasty and her pupils stared forward blindly.

Gannondorf grazed her cheek with the back of his hand. He sighed almost regretfully. "You have more power than you ever could have known. It's a shame you chose the wrong side. If only you had joined me…" He trailed off and looked down at Zelda one more time before turning away from the lifeless body.

A/N: _Don't yell at me too much!_


	14. The Fighter Within

Gannondorf turned his attention from Zelda to watching Link battle the caterpie. Well, actually, it was more like watching Link run around screaming while caterpie shot web at him. He snickered at how each piece of his plan fell so perfectly into its place. It was only a matter of moments before Link joined his girlfriend in the afterlife. "Ah," he sighed, "my life is perfect."

"Oh really?" a voice asked. Gannondorf turned; frightened by the voice he knew to well.

"Zelda…?" he breathed. There was no one. He glanced at the spot where Zelda's corpse lay. The body was still there. Then who had spoken? Zelda was dead and that was that. She was powerful, but even strength in magic did not preserve the soul when the body passed away. There was no way…

Gannondorf heard the voice again, but this time it was sudden and full of rage, instead of the calm and collected tone before. Before he had time to react, a whip was coiled around his neck. He struggled frantically resembling a mouse trapped in the grip of large snake. The whip pulled him down against the ground as he heard Zelda's voice cry out in fury.

Gannondorf's eyes followed the whip up to its wielder. He took in a sharp breath. It was not Zelda. "The blood within me is hot with death." The figure spoke slowly and fiercely, as though hell itself had rejected her. "Why do you bother to struggle when my spirit is hungry to see your corpse?" The figure spoke in Zelda's voice, but she wore a tight body suit partially wrapped in cloth with a Hyrulian symbol painted across her chest. It was obvious she was not one to be trifled with.

"Z-zelda?"

"No, Gannondorf." She took another step towards him and using the whip pulled his face close to hers. "Sheik." And with that she kicked him in the chest as she released him from the whip sending him hurdling backwards. (You go girl!)

Gannondorf slowly got to his feet. "Fool," he shouted as Sheik jumped around very ninja like. "I took the pill. You can be killed easily. But me? No, my death shall come another day."

"You're right, Gannondorf. I'm not going to kill you," she replied smugly. Then, in the blink of an eye she hurled five surikens (ninja stars) that snagged onto the edges of his clothing then pinned him to a pillar. She had a split second to smile at her handiwork, before she had to jump away to avoid being crushed under the large the tail of caterpie. Sheik saw how lucky she was to be alive as the ground where she had been just seconds ago began to crack from the impact of caterpie's tail. The ground split apart with a great groan and a red glow peeked out which Sheik could only assume was lava. Why there was lava underneath Hyrule castle she had no idea, but she did know that lave equals hot and one should generally try to keep a good distance from it.

The caterpie hadn't yet noticed Sheik and was still trying to catch Link in one of its arms. Link yelped as he narrowly dodged another pile of grayish web. "Leave my boyfriend alone!" she shouted at the pokemon. The creature twisted his head towards Zelda with a noise like eggshells breaking and something burrowing through wet soil. The insect hissed and brought down its upper torso in attempts to crush Zelda. But Caterpie was sluggish because of its awkward size and she was already behind it again by the time the monster regained its balance.

Sheik hurled her remaining surikens at caterpie. The creature flinched slightly, then, to Sheik's dismay, charged toward her with no sign of weakness. She ran, her eyes wide in panic, and the adrenaline moving her legs uncontrollably, but the arena wasn't quite large enough and she found herself against the glass dome that covered the arena with Caterpie at full speed and no where left to run.

The catrpie lowered its head so that when it made contact, Sheik was swept up in its feelers and flung up and over the large insect. She landed with a grunt and the sound of meat being tenderized. She clenched her stomach and winced at what felt like her insides being slammed out of place.

When the pain had resided a bit, and caterpie had managed to turn himself around, Sheik called out to him, "All right bring it—"

Sheik didn't have time to finish telling Caterpie to 'bring it on' because he was already a step ahead. "All right," Sheik began after spitting web out of her mouth, "you brought it." Sheik was trapped against the wall, now a prisoner to a layer of silken web.

"Link!" she shouted. Link poked his head out timidly from behind a large column.

"Uh…yes, Zelda?" He stepped out completely.

"Link," she began calmly, "SAVE ME!"

"Uh, right," Link replied. He pulled out a bomb, lit it hurriedly then threw it into the air. He closed his eyes and covered his ears waiting for the explosion. The explosion came and went. The only thing that had changed was that the bomb had caused Gannondorf's pillar to fall down, knocking the suriken that held one of his arms to fall out. With a malicious grin he pulled out the remaining surikens and leapt to his feet. Link's eyes widened and Zelda just let out a defeated sigh and to herself an 'oh great'.

"Hurry up and save me for god's sake!" Zelda was getting very nervous as Gannondorf eyed her as he cracked his knuckles. "I'm coming," Link assured her. He ran towards Zelda, but before he reached her, Caterpie shot another string of web which landed in his hair. He shrieked. He reached for his comb. It was in his hands, light reflecting of the pink plastic, then…

He tripped. The comb flew from his hand, landed several yards away, and skidded towards the crack with the lava in it. The lava was now rising and was rapidly working its way towards Link's comb. Pretty dramatic, eh?

Link cried out for his lost love as he sank to his knees and reached out a hand longingly. His fingers slowly closed to a fist which he held to his face.

Zelda was getting impatient. "Forget the stupid comb! Get over here and help me!" She glanced over nervously at Gannondorf who was now preparing a new charm, which she knew was intended for her, and would hurt very very much.

Link looked back at his girlfriend. Then at the comb. Oh, why must fate be so cruel, he wondered aloud. Definitely save Zelda. But my hair; it needs that comb. No. Zelda. No, the comb. Zelda. His mind felt like a game of ping pong, his conscience a small ball whizzing back and forth between each side. He heard Zelda give a small shriek. Yes, he would save Zelda. Yes! Unquestionably; he would save her! Yes, yes, YES!

THE COMB!

"LINK YOU #$! BABOON" Zelda couldn't believe her eyes. In a situation of life and death, Link chose the comb. Not her. Her heart was now filled with rejection and shock. What happened to the Link last night, the one with the tender touch, the reassuring voice, and the need for commitment? She had thought he had changed. As her eyes swelled with tears, Zelda realized she had forgotten one of the most important rules of_ A Smart Girl's Guide to Life_. Rule number 139: Men don't change.

"But I don't want to die" Zelda moaned to no one in particular, perhaps a final plead to God. She concentrated very hard for a moment, to see if she could contact the Deku tree through her mind. Her heart leaped. She sensed his presence.

"Zelda? Is that you?" she heard a voice in her head say.

"Yes, Deku Tree, it's me."

"What do you want?"

"Well, I'm kind of in need of assistance." She focused on the area around herself and sent the image to the mind of the Deku tree somehow. (Hey, this IS a fantasy story, right?)

"Oh. I see."

"So…will you help me?"

"Sorry, I can't do anything for you."

"But"-

"Zelda, I help those who help themselves."

"You're no use at all!" Zelda pouted.

"Goodbye…" She heard his voice fading away.

Zelda let out a frustrated snort. She was going to die. After Link had saved his comb, caterpie managed to give him a good whack to the head and he was now out cold, so she could forget about him releasing her. Gannondorf had completed the charm and the power began to flow out of him in one large purple stream.

"Use my inheritance to build a public pool for the natives," Zelda said as she closed her eyes and waited for pain.

A light. Blinding and pure it exploded with a piercing metallic sound and Zelda screamed.

_So, how many people thought Zelda was dead? I don't know if I fooled anyone, but oh well; I like to think I did, lol. Anyways, hope you enjoyed this chapter, which you may have noticed started serious but didn't end that way! I wanted this to be dramatic, but as you probably know by now, I often have trouble with that. Later y'all._


	15. The Last Stand

_OMG, it's the last chapter! Woot! Ok, so there is actually going to be an epilogue after this. Still, is this exciting or what? It's seven pages on word, singles spaced, so enjoy! Oh, and I didn't edit to well so yeah… I ask for your forgiveness. _

Roy slunk down against the cement alley way wall. He could feel the grime caked on as he slid downward against it. A putrid smell hung in the air, which was not surprising since a dumpster was placed right of the back door leading into the Smasher's Lounge. The place was quiet and isolated. Few people came to this side of the coliseum, just employees coming to take out the trash, and Roy could understand why as he looked around at the dark puddles and filth clinging to each wall of this forgotten alcove.

Then why was he here?

He couldn't say exactly. Life just felt so confusing right now. He was going to watch Zelda fight, but at the last moment he turned back and came here. He just couldn't face her. Roy looked down at his reflection in a puddle of murky water. His face was tired and sweat clung to it, giving him a neurotic sort of look. He brought his fist down violently destroying the image. He didn't want to look at himself, at the coward who ran away just because of some stupid girl.

No. She wasn't just some stupid girl. Zelda was so much more. If she was just some stupid girl, he wouldn't remember the exact way she had said she really needed to study up on healing charms. It was somewhat jokingly, with slight emphasis on really, like she was sort of making fun of herself, but not so much that she believed she lacked the ability to improve in the area of healing.

Roy shook his head. This cannot be healthy.

The mad ramblings inside his mind were interrupted as an employee burst out of the door that led to the Smasher's Lounge. His name tag read 'Rick'.

"Oh my god! Oh my god oh my god oh my-"

"Please!" Roy shouted, "SHUT UP!"

"I'm sorry, but you must come quickly!" By Rick's alarmed face, Roy could seem something was terribly wrong.

"What's going on?" Roy asked him seizing him by the shoulders. Rick's unease seemed to spread through him like a disease.

"Gannondorf! He gave Link and Zelda a fake pill and now he's going to kill them with a giant pokemon and nobody knows what's going on because the arena is soundproof and they all think its part of the act and I've been looking everywhere for someone important but I can't find anyone who believe me so I have to tell you."

Rick paused for breath, then was about to begin again when Roy cut him off. "Wait, how do you know all this?"

"Well…"

_Flashback_

Rick closed the door of the mini fridge in the employee rec-room disappointed. No one had brought anything good in their lunch that didn't need to be micro-waved and he was starving.

Rick looked around. Maybe Roberto, the janitor, had something to eat in the broom closet. He opened the door and noticed in the pocket of Roberto's uniform a Twix bar. Rick let out a "score!" as he reached out and snatched the only candy bar with the cookie crunch. As he sat enjoying the Twix, a smile across his face, he heard the faint sound of someone coming. "Roberto!" he breathed, panic in his voice. The thieving employee jumped into the closet and shut the door almost all the way, so there was a thin crack for him to look out.

It was not Roberto who entered the room. Though it was a man, he was tall and broad shouldered, with a large protruding nose. Orange hair peeked out of the dark cloak he had draped around himself. He was looking for something, his eyes scanning an open cabinet on the upper wall. Then he stopped and reached in for a bottle of pills.

From beneath his cloak, he retrieved another container and a plastic bag. He poured the pills into the bag, and then replaced them with the contents of his own bottle. Then he closed the lid tightly and placed it back in the cubboard. He let out a triumphant laugh and left, but not before adding "There will be no celebration in the house of Link to night! Oh ho ho."

_End of Flashback_

"We have to go help Zelda!" Roy shouted. "Oh, and Link…I guess." He coughed.

The two men ran to the main coliseum, their pace slowing as the crowd thickened. After a few minutes of pushing and several "excuse me"s on Rick's part, they managed to reach the glass dome of the arena.

Roy pounded against the glass, but his fist did nothing. He used the handle of his sheathed sword to bang against it, but again it was futile. Panting, he gave a final pound against the glass before letting himself fall against it, but this last blow was out of frustration instead of hope to shatter the wall separating him from Zelda.

After a moments rest, Roy shook his head. He would not be stymied so easily. He unsheathed his sword and held it out in front of him, its power coursing through his body. His fury seemed to flow out of his fingertip into the sword as the blade began give off a lurid glow. With a loud passionate cry, his sword sliced through the air and pierced the dome. The wall of glass shrieked than shattered as Roy heaved him self into the arena.

&&&

_No!" she screamed. "Help me Link! Let me free and we can defeat him!" He seemed to be unable to hear her voice. Laughter, dark and full of malice echoed through her head. She screamed again. It was no use, no one would help her. Then, suddenly, there was a flash. She blinked and there was nothing but deep blackness._

She thought it was a dream, but it was more. It had been a glimpse into her future, perhaps of her death. Everything spiraled into blackness? Because she did not live to see what happens next. Then the flash. What was the flash?

"Die, bastard!"

A loud crash rang out, then the sound of glass breaking.

Zelda felt heavy and confused like she was in a bad dream. Was she dead? That voice…Who..?

Zelda felt a hand caress her face tenderly. Hot breath met her face comfortingly. "Zelda, open your eyes."

She did as she was told. Roy. His face, it stared back at her with a limp, but kind, smile. With one swift cut of his sword, he released her from the web. The relief she felt was immense. She wanted so badly to hold him, to run her fingers in his hair and bury her face in his neck. The feeling was almost irresistible. Almost. She stood still and instead gave a small nod in gratitude.

Zelda looked around. Gannondorf was on the ground clutching a deep gash in his stomach. She notice blood dripping down the blade of Roy's sword and it was obvious what had happened while her eyes were shut. Noise was now suddenly pouring into the arena due to a large hole in the glass, and Zelda remembered there had been a crowd watching the whole time.

"Someone call the police!" she shouted. The crowd turned to each other, confused and frightened. What was going on obviously eluded them, however several did take out cell phones and Zelda hoped desperately they were calling someone who would help.

Zelda felt Roy's hand on her shoulder jerk her around. The caterpie was still destroying what was left of the arena, and it was a matter of time before it moved out towards the audience. The thought infuriated Zelda. Innocent people would not be harmed on her account. She ran forward, ignoring Roy's voice calling her back. She called over her shoulder to him, "Distract him!"

Roy had no idea what Zelda intended to do, but he trusted her and did as he was told. With the light reflecting off of his golden armor and his bright red cape, it was a simple task to turn the insect's attention away from Zelda. Of course, now came the part that wasn't so simple: not getting killed. He leaped away avoiding a shot of web and landed with a roll. He charged forward, but stopped to evade one of the Caterpie's many legs which swatted at him powerfully. Careful to dodge the rest of the insect's blows, Roy eventually found a split second of an opening to attack. Using his entire body, he sunk his blade deep into the creature's stomach. It screeched in agony.

This seemed to be what Zelda had been waiting for. Roy saw her high above the ground holding onto a rope that was tied to one of the taller pillars in one hand, and clutching one of Link's bombs in the other. As the Caterpie opened its mouth to let out a great cry, she threw herself into the air fearlessly, and then hurled the bomb into it. Her body twisted about through the air then landed effortlessly. She had just enough time to grab Link's unconscious body and drag it away with her behind crushed pillars to protect themselves before the Caterpie exploded. Roy was thrust to the ground, and the remaining glass shattered.

The caterpie's blood, or a green substance equivalent to blood, burst out with the explosion covering the entire room, even reaching the very last rows. Hyrule temple was no more. The arena had been programmed to look like each back round and now that the machine had been destroyed in the explosion, it was nothing more than a black floor made of some type of plastic, charred in some spots.

Roy sat up and rubbed his head. He ached all over. He looked around the room praying he was not the only one to have survived the explosion. The arena looked deserted, but after a few moments he noticed Zelda poke her head out from where she had been hiding. Roy ran to her to make sure she hadn't been hurt. She seemed fine, but completely dazed. She at last looked up at him, into his eyes, as though really noticing his presence for the first time. "It's…it's over now, isn't it?"

He nodded as he wiped some of the blackness off his face with the back of his hand. There was silence for a moment and Zelda realized that everyone else had left (not surprisingly). She was alone. With Roy. And she had no idea what to say.

"Thank you," she said at last with really no thought at all. The words had just come out, as though her mouth wasn't her own. "Yeah. Thank you…for stuff." Shit. She wanted to kick herself. Thank you for stuff. She is so smooth. "I mean-"

"You're welcome," he said cutting her off. Oh no, it was coming-she knew it. Roy's secret weapon: the crooked smile. If he had wanted to take her wallet right then he could have easily done so and she wouldn't even notice. Her insides were squirming and she couldn't look away. "Are you sure you're okay," Roy asked her. He took a step closer to her.

"You don't have to worry about me," Zelda assured him.

"I know, but…I can't help it." Now Roy seemed to be the bashful one. He looked to be thinking about something, debating an unresolved matter. Then finally he slowly began to unravel the cloth hood that Zelda had wrapped around her head. She did nothing, simply watched him as she felt her hair fall against her face. Her heart was beginning to beat faster and louder and she was surprised that Roy didn't seem to hear it.

A thought suddenly crossed her mind. Could he possibly be planning to kiss her? His hand gently lifted her chin. He _was _going to kiss her!

He should have kissed her. But everyone had decided to it was time to come back into the arena. All the contestants who had been there during the fight had reentered as well as some of the crowd. The Nintendo brothers who were followed by four police men led the way. Princess Peach was there, Mario as well, and Rick was standing behind her trying to snip a piece of her hair off with a pair of safety scissors, but was having a bit of difficulty since she kept moving and jumping around to see over the everyone's head.

Roy and Zelda immediately jumped apart both blushing furiously, though no one seemed to notice. "Are you two okay?" one of the Nintendo Bros asked them.

"Yes, we're fine," Zelda said rather irritably.

"Are you sure? No one considering any law suits?" his brother chimed in.

"We really are fine, thank you," Roy answered a good deal more politely than Zelda would have.

"Well it's nice to finally hear some good news."

"What do you mean?" Roy asked him.

"We've searched the entire coliseum and the area surrounding and there was no sign of Gannondorf. He could possibly still be in here, but that is quite unlikely." Despite this lack of hope, the police had occupied themselves scanning the area.

"Do you think the arena can be fixed in time to finish the tournament?" Zelda asked as she looked around at the destroyed room.

"Oh, it shan't take more than a few days."

"Good," Zelda replied. "I want to finish this thing and get home!"

The two Nintendo brothers looked at each other nervously. "About that…" one began.

"We hate to be the bearer of bad news, but you, Roy, and Link are all disqualified from the tournament," the other said.

Zelda's jaw dropped. Roy simply said nothing.

"I'm sorry, but interference in someone else's battle is an automatic disqualification, and Zelda and Link actually lost their battle."

"What?!" Zelda cried out in surprise. "We lost?"

"Yes, the score is as follows:

Zelda: -2

Gannondorf+1

Link: -1"

Zelda felt her eyes start to burn with tears though she was determined not to let herself give in to childish sobbing. She was disqualified. Just like that. Her dreams of becoming a champion had just been run over by a steamroller. "You can't do this!" she shouted. Though she wasn't going to give into her tears, she would however submit to her building rage.

Roy seized her by the arm and pulled her away from the crowd, which had now swelled with viewers who had realized the danger was gone and had come back to see what was up. "It'll be okay, Zelda. Don't make it worse," he said in a supportive but firm tone.

"Don't make it worse?! How can it be any worse?" she lashed back at him.

"You could be dead." Roy's voice was abruptly louder and slightly tremulous and Zelda was taken aback by the power of how he had spoken.

Zelda was touched that her dying was worse than him being kicked out of the tournament, but it did not subside her anger much. "You don't understand."

"Than why don't you tell me so I can help you?"

"See, that's just it!" she cried out. "Everyone is always helping me. They help me so much, I'm not expected to do anything! I'm not expected to be anything! But I can be something. Don't you see? If I want the world to know that I'm not just the weak little princess sitting in a tower crying for help, than I have to win. Now I'll never be anything more. I guess I should just give up dreams of being respected as a fighter for good now." She turned away with her arms crossed.

"Zelda, don't be ridicoulous," Roy said surprised at Zelda's lack of confidence in herself. "You just killed a giant bug! How can you not be impressed by that?"

Zelda was not convinced. "Think back a few moments before. Where was I? Awaiting death until you came in and saved me. Why does this seem so familiar?" she asked sarcastically.

Now Roy was getting irritated. He grabbed her by the shoulders and turned her to face him. "Zelda, listen to me. I didn't save you. I just helped you save yourself." Zelda didn't know whether to listen to him or not. He may be right, but she still felt stubborn and contrarily pulled away from him and left shaking her head. She didn't really know where she was going, but she wanted to get out of the room and let her anger subside. She made her way through the crowd, though the process was slow only adding to Zelda's irritation.

Zelda wanted to yell out at the top of her lungs for everyone to get out of the way, but she still had enough common sense to know this would be very rude and these people hadn't done anything to her. In fact, now that she had begun thinking about what was around her, the crowd seemed to be turning towards her then looking back at the large over head tv. This made Zelda halt. She looked up at the screen and saw herself. She was fighting Gannondorf. And she was kicking his butt. Then the screen cut to a new scene. This one had her in it as well, but now she was leaping through the air after just throwing the bomb in Caterpie's mouth.

Zelda stared at the screen in amazement. Was that really her? Did that really all happen? She couldn't help but smile. The people were clapping now, clapping for _her_. She looked back at Roy. He was smirking in an "I so told you" kind of way. People offered words of praise but they washed over Zelda. Her mind was not thinking of them anymore. It was thinking about him.

That feeling came again, the one that she had felt when he told her to open her eyes, the urge to run to him, to kiss him. Then Zelda realized she had been wrong: the impulse wasn't almost irresistible, it _was_ irresistible. She gave in and ran to him.

She threw her arms around Roy and whispered into his ear, "I want to thank you for stuff." A smile grew across her lips before they kissed and, for the first time in what seemed like ages, Zelda felt happy to be her.

The End

_I really really hope you liked it. This horrible chapter took forever to finish because I sort of wrote myself into a corner. Please tell me what you think of this because I think I might redo this chapter depending on the reviews. Anyways, thanks for reading. Don't delete me from your alert list yet though because I want to add a short epilogue soon which will explain a few things. Plus you get to find out who wins the competition!_


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